Neblett, Randy, Cohen, Howard, Choi, YunHee et al. · The journal of pain · 2013 · DOI
This study tested a questionnaire called the Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI) to see if it could help doctors identify patients with conditions like ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, and irritable bowel syndrome. Researchers believe these conditions may share a common cause: the nervous system becoming overly sensitive to pain and other stimuli. The study found that a CSI score of 40 or higher was a good way to identify patients with these central sensitivity syndromes.
For ME/CFS patients, this study provides evidence for a practical screening tool that could help with earlier identification and diagnosis of central sensitivity syndromes, which are often difficult to diagnose due to overlapping symptoms. Understanding central sensitization as a potential shared mechanism across ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, and related conditions may advance our understanding of disease etiology and support more targeted treatment approaches.
This study does not prove that central sensitization causes ME/CFS or other central sensitivity syndromes—only that heightened central sensitivity is associated with these conditions. The cross-sectional design means we cannot determine whether abnormal nervous system sensitivity develops before or after disease onset. The study also does not establish the CSI's utility in primary care settings or its ability to predict treatment response or disease progression.
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
Neblett, Randy, Cohen, Howard, Choi, YunHee, Hartzell, Meredith M, Williams, Mark, Mayer, Tom G, et al. (2013). The Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI): establishing clinically significant values for identifying central sensitivity syndromes in an outpatient chronic pain sample.. The journal of pain. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpain.2012.11.012
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-neblett-2013-central-sensitization,
author = {Neblett, Randy and Cohen, Howard and Choi, YunHee and Hartzell, Meredith M and Williams, Mark and Mayer, Tom G and Gatchel, Robert J},
title = {The Central Sensitization Inventory (CSI): establishing clinically significant values for identifying central sensitivity syndromes in an outpatient chronic pain sample.},
journal = {The journal of pain},
year = {2013},
doi = {10.1016/j.jpain.2012.11.012},
note = {PubMed: 23490634},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/neblett-2013-central-sensitization},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/neblett-2013-central-sensitization
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.