Yang, Manshu, Keller, San, Lin, Jin-Mann S · Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation · 2022 · DOI
This study tested whether two questionnaires (PROMIS scales) accurately measure sleep problems and pain in people with ME/CFS. Researchers surveyed over 600 ME/CFS patients and 338 healthy people at seven clinics across the USA. The questionnaires worked well—they consistently measured what they were supposed to measure, and they clearly showed the difference between ME/CFS patients (who had worse sleep and pain) and healthy controls.
Reliable outcome measures are essential for ME/CFS research and clinical care. This validation study confirms that these PROMIS questionnaires accurately capture sleep and pain symptoms in ME/CFS populations, enabling researchers to use them confidently in future trials and clinicians to track patient progress over time.
This study does not establish that sleep problems or pain cause ME/CFS symptoms or functional impairment—only that these measures reliably detect differences between patients and healthy people. The cross-sectional design limits assessment of how these measures respond to treatment over time. The study also cannot explain what causes the elevated sleep and pain scores in ME/CFS.
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
Yang, Manshu, Keller, San, & Lin, Jin-Mann S (2022). Assessing sleep and pain among adults with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: psychometric evaluation of the PROMIS® sleep and pain short forms.. Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11136-022-03199-8
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-yang-2022-assessing-sleep,
author = {Yang, Manshu and Keller, San and Lin, Jin-Mann S},
title = {Assessing sleep and pain among adults with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: psychometric evaluation of the PROMIS® sleep and pain short forms.},
journal = {Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1007/s11136-022-03199-8},
note = {PubMed: 35896905},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/yang-2022-assessing-sleep},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/yang-2022-assessing-sleep
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