Lu, Jing, Sun, Weibo, Li, Shulin et al. · Frontiers in neurology · 2025 · DOI
This review examined the different questionnaires and tests doctors use to measure ME/CFS symptoms. The researchers looked at how well these tools work for diagnosing the illness and tracking how patients change over time. They found that while current tests are reasonably reliable, we need better tools that measure all the different ways ME/CFS affects people—like fatigue, brain fog, pain, and sleep problems—in a more consistent and objective way.
Since ME/CFS lacks reliable biological markers, accurate symptom measurement is critical for diagnosis and comparing results across research studies. This review helps identify which assessment tools work best and where improvements are needed, potentially accelerating better diagnosis and treatment development for patients. Understanding measurement strengths and weaknesses can guide clinicians toward more reliable tools for patient care.
This review does not establish whether any particular symptom scale can definitively diagnose ME/CFS or predict disease progression. It does not present new clinical data or test any new assessment tool; rather, it evaluates existing instruments. The review does not prove causation for any ME/CFS symptoms—it only examines how well current tools measure the symptoms that are already known to occur in the disease.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Lu, Jing, Sun, Weibo, Li, Shulin, Qu, Yuanyuan, Liu, Tingting, Guo, Shuhao, et al. (2025). Assessment of symptoms in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: a comparative study of existing scales.. Frontiers in neurology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2025.1618272
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-lu-2025-assessment-symptoms,
author = {Lu, Jing and Sun, Weibo and Li, Shulin and Qu, Yuanyuan and Liu, Tingting and Guo, Shuhao and Feng, Chuwen and Yang, Tiansong},
title = {Assessment of symptoms in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: a comparative study of existing scales.},
journal = {Frontiers in neurology},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.3389/fneur.2025.1618272},
note = {PubMed: 41341517},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/lu-2025-assessment-symptoms},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/lu-2025-assessment-symptoms
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