Uygun, Gürsan Güneş, Gözükızıl, Salim Taner, Bilen, Ayşegül · Cureus · 2025 · DOI
This study asked pain doctors in Turkey about their knowledge of ME/CFS and how they evaluate and treat patients with the condition. The results show that many pain specialists aren't familiar with ME/CFS, and some hold misconceptions—like thinking it's a type of depression or that intense exercise will help. This matters because pain doctors could potentially help ME/CFS patients, but they need better education about the condition first.
Pain specialists represent an underutilized clinical resource for ME/CFS symptom management, yet significant knowledge gaps and misconceptions exist in this specialty. Identifying these gaps is essential for developing targeted education and referral pathways that could improve multidisciplinary care. This study provides evidence-based rationale for educational interventions in pain medicine.
This study does not establish the prevalence of ME/CFS awareness globally or in other countries, nor does it demonstrate whether improving pain specialists' knowledge actually improves patient outcomes. The questionnaire-based design cannot determine causation or the actual clinical behaviors of physicians (only their stated beliefs). Results are specific to Turkish healthcare context and may not generalize internationally.
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
Uygun, Gürsan Güneş, Gözükızıl, Salim Taner, & Bilen, Ayşegül (2025). Awareness and Perception of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Among Pain Specialists: A Questionnaire-Based Study.. Cureus. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.81030
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-uygun-2025-awareness-perception,
author = {Uygun, Gürsan Güneş and Gözükızıl, Salim Taner and Bilen, Ayşegül},
title = {Awareness and Perception of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Among Pain Specialists: A Questionnaire-Based Study.},
journal = {Cureus},
year = {2025},
doi = {10.7759/cureus.81030},
note = {PubMed: 40264626},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/uygun-2025-awareness-perception},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/uygun-2025-awareness-perception
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