Maness, Caroline, Saini, Prabhjyot, Bliwise, Donald L et al. · Journal of sleep research · 2019 · DOI
This study looked at people visiting sleep clinics who reported excessive daytime sleepiness and found that 21% of them also met criteria for ME/CFS (systemic exertion intolerance disease). People with both conditions reported more severe fatigue and were less likely to benefit from standard wake-promoting medications compared to those with only sleep disorders. The findings suggest that ME/CFS frequently occurs alongside sleep disorders and may make treatment more difficult.
This research highlights that ME/CFS is a common co-morbidity in sleep clinic populations and may be underrecognized. The finding that ME/CFS patients respond poorly to standard sleep disorder treatments suggests that ME/CFS requires distinct clinical approaches and underscores the importance of screening for post-exertional malaise and exertional intolerance in fatigued patients.
This study does not establish that sleep disorders cause ME/CFS or vice versa—only that they frequently co-occur. The retrospective methodology and reliance on questionnaires rather than standardized ME/CFS diagnostic criteria limit diagnostic precision. The findings do not explain the biological mechanisms linking these conditions or determine optimal treatment strategies for patients with both diagnoses.
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
Maness, Caroline, Saini, Prabhjyot, Bliwise, Donald L, Olvera, Victoria, Rye, David B, & Trotti, Lynn M (2019). Systemic exertion intolerance disease/chronic fatigue syndrome is common in sleep centre patients with hypersomnolence: A retrospective pilot study.. Journal of sleep research. https://doi.org/10.1111/jsr.12689
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-maness-2019-systemic-exertion,
author = {Maness, Caroline and Saini, Prabhjyot and Bliwise, Donald L and Olvera, Victoria and Rye, David B and Trotti, Lynn M},
title = {Systemic exertion intolerance disease/chronic fatigue syndrome is common in sleep centre patients with hypersomnolence: A retrospective pilot study.},
journal = {Journal of sleep research},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.1111/jsr.12689},
note = {PubMed: 29624767},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/maness-2019-systemic-exertion},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/maness-2019-systemic-exertion
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.