SynthesisJournal of translational medicine2024
Systematic review of fatigue severity in ME/CFS patients: insights from randomized controlled trials.
Synthesis in Journal of translational medicine, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. An erratum has been issued. Cited by 7 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
7 citing papers in PubMed.
- Article
- Functionality Review of Mobile Apps for the Tracking and Self-Management of Fatigue: Systematic Search in App Stores and Content Analysis.JMIR mHealth and uHealth · 2026Article
- Persistent fatigue in long-COVID is not associated with peripheral inflammatory or cellular stress biomarkers: A cross-sectional controlled study.Brain, behavior, & immunity - health · 2026Article
- Long-Term Follow-Up of Women with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): A 16-Year Longitudinal Study.Medicina (Kaunas, Lithuania) · 2026Article
- Glymphatic System Dysregulation as a Key Contributor to Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.International journal of molecular sciences · 2025Review
- Nutrition and Dietary Patterns: Effects on Brain Function.Nutrients · 2025Article
- Correction: Systematic review of fatigue severity in ME/CFS patients: insights from randomized controlled trials.Journal of translational medicine · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
- Erratum issued
Authors and funding
6 authors.
Funding
Abstract
backgroundMyalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a debilitating illness medically unexplained, affecting approximately 1% of the global population. Due to the subjective complaint, assessing the exact severity of fatigue is a clinical challenge, thus, this study aimed to produce comprehensive features of fatigue severity in ME/CFS patients.
methodsWe systematically extracted the data for fatigue levels of participants in randomized controlled trials (RCTs) targeting ME/CFS from PubMed, Cochrane Library, Web of Science, and CINAHL throughout January 31, 2024. We normalized each different measurement to a maximum 100-point scale and performed a meta-analysis to assess fatigue severity by subgroups of age, fatigue domain, intervention, case definition, and assessment tool, respectively.
resultsAmong the total of 497 relevant studies, 60 RCTs finally met our eligibility criteria, which included a total of 7088 ME/CFS patients (males 1815, females 4532, and no information 741). The fatigue severity of the whole 7,088 patients was 77.9 (95% CI 74.7-81.0), showing 77.7 (95% CI 74.3-81.0) from 54 RCTs in 6,706 adults and 79.6 (95% CI 69.8-89.3) from 6 RCTs in 382 adolescents. Regarding the domain of fatigue, 'cognitive' (74.2, 95% CI 65.4-83.0) and 'physical' fatigue (74.3, 95% CI 68.3-80.3) were a little higher than 'mental' fatigue (70.1, 95% CI 64.4-75.8). The ME/CFS participants for non-pharmacological intervention (79.1, 95% CI 75.2-83.0) showed a higher fatigue level than those for pharmacological intervention (75.5, 95% CI 70.0-81.0). The fatigue levels of ME/CFS patients varied according to diagnostic criteria and assessment tools adapted in RCTs, likely from 54.2 by ICC (International Consensus Criteria) to 83.6 by Canadian criteria and 54.2 by MFS (Mental Fatigue Scale) to 88.6 by CIS (Checklist Individual Strength), respectively.
conclusionsThis systematic review firstly produced comprehensive features of fatigue severity in patients with ME/CFS. Our data will provide insights for clinicians in diagnosis, therapeutic assessment, and patient management, as well as for researchers in fatigue-related investigations.
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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.