Serafimova, Teona, Ascough, Caitlin, Parslow, Roxanne Morin et al. · BMJ paediatrics open · 2022 · DOI
This study explored how children with ME/CFS experience pain by interviewing 13 young people (average age 15). Researchers found that pain is very common, highly varied, and significantly impacts daily life—affecting physical activity, eating, schooling, and mental health. Most importantly, the children reported that current treatments don't work well, highlighting an urgent need for better pain management options.
Pain is severely underrecognized and undertreated in paediatric ME/CFS despite affecting up to two-thirds of patients and worsening outcomes. This research amplifies young patients' voices, documenting the profound disability pain causes and the critical gap in available treatments—providing essential evidence to inform clinical care development and research priorities.
This qualitative study describes pain experiences but does not establish prevalence rates, causal mechanisms, or comparative efficacy of treatments. It cannot determine whether pain is directly caused by ME/CFS pathophysiology versus secondary effects, nor does it provide evidence for specific treatment interventions.
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
Serafimova, Teona, Ascough, Caitlin, Parslow, Roxanne Morin, & Crawley, Esther (2022). Experiences of pain in paediatric chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis: a single-centre qualitative study.. BMJ paediatrics open. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2021-001201
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-serafimova-2022-experiences-pain,
author = {Serafimova, Teona and Ascough, Caitlin and Parslow, Roxanne Morin and Crawley, Esther},
title = {Experiences of pain in paediatric chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis: a single-centre qualitative study.},
journal = {BMJ paediatrics open},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1136/bmjpo-2021-001201},
note = {PubMed: 36053633},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/serafimova-2022-experiences-pain},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/serafimova-2022-experiences-pain
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.