Stormorken, Eva, Jason, Leonard A, Kirkevold, Marit · BMC nursing · 2015 · DOI
This study interviewed 26 adults with ME/CFS about their fatigue to better understand what they experience. The researchers found that fatigue in ME/CFS is not just tiredness—it's a complex, all-consuming symptom that gets much worse with even small activities and is accompanied by other symptoms like brain fog and pain. The fatigue also changes throughout the day and is triggered by physical activity, emotions, stress, and sometimes things patients don't even realize are triggering it.
Healthcare providers, especially nurses, often underestimate ME/CFS fatigue because standard fatigue definitions don't capture the condition's severity and complexity. This study provides detailed clinical descriptions that can help providers recognize and validate patient experiences, improve communication, and deliver more appropriate care. Better understanding of fatigue characteristics and triggers may also guide future research into underlying mechanisms.
This qualitative study describes patient experiences but does not identify the biological causes of fatigue or prove that specific triggers universally apply to all ME/CFS patients. The findings are not generalizable beyond the 26 participants interviewed, and the study cannot establish whether certain characteristics are unique to PIFS or shared with other fatiguing conditions.
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
Stormorken, Eva, Jason, Leonard A, & Kirkevold, Marit (2015). Fatigue in adults with post-infectious fatigue syndrome: a qualitative content analysis.. BMC nursing. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-015-0115-5
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-stormorken-2015-fatigue-adults,
author = {Stormorken, Eva and Jason, Leonard A and Kirkevold, Marit},
title = {Fatigue in adults with post-infectious fatigue syndrome: a qualitative content analysis.},
journal = {BMC nursing},
year = {2015},
doi = {10.1186/s12912-015-0115-5},
note = {PubMed: 26617466},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/stormorken-2015-fatigue-adults},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/stormorken-2015-fatigue-adults
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