Nijs, Jo, Van de Putte, Karen, Louckx, Fred et al. · Clinical rehabilitation · 2005 · DOI
This study looked at whether exercise tests and questionnaires could predict which ME/CFS patients could work. Researchers tested 54 employed patients with ME/CFS and asked them about their work status and quality of life. They found that while some measures weakly related to employment, neither exercise testing nor self-reported disability measures were strong enough to reliably predict who could work.
Employment status is a critical outcome measure for ME/CFS patients, yet objective predictors of work capacity remain elusive. This study challenges the utility of standard exercise testing and questionnaire-based disability measures for determining who can maintain employment, highlighting the need for better assessment tools.
This study does not establish causation—only weak correlations. It cannot prove that exercise capacity or disability scores directly determine employment status, nor does it establish that current employment is sustainable or optimal for patient health. The cross-sectional design means we cannot determine whether employment affects these measures or vice versa.
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
Nijs, Jo, Van de Putte, Karen, Louckx, Fred, & De Meirleir, Kenny (2005). Employment status in chronic fatigue syndrome. A cross-sectional study examining the value of exercise testing and self-reported measures for the assessment of employment status.. Clinical rehabilitation. https://doi.org/10.1191/0269215505cr882oa
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-nijs-2005-employment-status,
author = {Nijs, Jo and Van de Putte, Karen and Louckx, Fred and De Meirleir, Kenny},
title = {Employment status in chronic fatigue syndrome. A cross-sectional study examining the value of exercise testing and self-reported measures for the assessment of employment status.},
journal = {Clinical rehabilitation},
year = {2005},
doi = {10.1191/0269215505cr882oa},
note = {PubMed: 16323389},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/nijs-2005-employment-status},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/nijs-2005-employment-status
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