Prins, Judith B, van der Meer, Jos W M, Bleijenberg, Gijs · Lancet (London, England) · 2006 · DOI
This review examines the major debates and disagreements about ME/CFS that have occurred over the past 20 years among doctors, researchers, and patients. The authors discuss questions about how ME/CFS is defined, how it is diagnosed, what causes it, and what treatments work best. They suggest that future research should study ME/CFS alongside other similar conditions and use new tools from neuroscience and genetics to better understand the illness.
This comprehensive review validates that ME/CFS is a legitimate area of scientific concern and recognizes patients' participation in these discussions. It highlights major gaps in understanding and treatment, providing a framework for identifying research priorities and justifying the need for rigorous, multidisciplinary investigation into ME/CFS mechanisms and interventions.
This review does not establish the specific biological cause of ME/CFS, nor does it prove that any particular treatment is effective. It documents disagreement and gaps in knowledge rather than resolving them, and it does not provide definitive diagnostic criteria or distinguish causation from correlation in proposed disease mechanisms.
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
Prins, Judith B, van der Meer, Jos W M, & Bleijenberg, Gijs (2006). Chronic fatigue syndrome.. Lancet (London, England). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68073-2
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-prins-2006-chronic-fatigue,
author = {Prins, Judith B and van der Meer, Jos W M and Bleijenberg, Gijs},
title = {Chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Lancet (London, England)},
year = {2006},
doi = {10.1016/S0140-6736(06)68073-2},
note = {PubMed: 16443043},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/prins-2006-chronic-fatigue},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/prins-2006-chronic-fatigue
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