Meeus, Mira, Nijs, Jo, Meirleir, Kenny De · European journal of pain (London, England) · 2007 · DOI
This review looked at 25 scientific studies about chronic pain in ME/CFS patients. Most people with ME/CFS experience widespread pain along with fatigue, but there is no clear agreement on how to define or measure this pain. The review found that pain is common and disabling, but we still don't know exactly what causes it or how to treat it effectively.
This systematic review highlights that chronic pain is a major, disabling feature of ME/CFS that deserves clinical attention and research investment. By identifying gaps in the existing evidence, the study underscores the urgent need for better understanding of pain mechanisms and development of effective pain management strategies for ME/CFS patients.
This systematic review does not establish causation for any proposed pain mechanisms—it only identifies correlations and hypotheses from existing literature. The scarcity of primary research on pain treatment means no therapeutic approach is definitively proven effective. The review also cannot determine precise prevalence figures for chronic pain in ME/CFS.
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
Meeus, Mira, Nijs, Jo, & Meirleir, Kenny De (2007). Chronic musculoskeletal pain in patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome: a systematic review.. European journal of pain (London, England). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ejpain.2006.06.005
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-meeus-2007-chronic-musculoskeletal,
author = {Meeus, Mira and Nijs, Jo and Meirleir, Kenny De},
title = {Chronic musculoskeletal pain in patients with the chronic fatigue syndrome: a systematic review.},
journal = {European journal of pain (London, England)},
year = {2007},
doi = {10.1016/j.ejpain.2006.06.005},
note = {PubMed: 16843021},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/meeus-2007-chronic-musculoskeletal},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/meeus-2007-chronic-musculoskeletal
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