Leone, Stephanie S, Huibers, Marcus J H, Kant, Ijmert et al. · Psychological medicine · 2006 · DOI
This study followed 127 people who were on sick leave due to fatigue for 4 years to see who would recover and return to work. After 4 years, about one-quarter of the participants were still unable to work due to disability. The study found that people with lower physical functioning at the start were more likely to remain disabled and continue experiencing fatigue.
This study provides evidence that physical functioning is a critical factor in predicting long-term work disability in fatigue-related illnesses, including CFS-like presentations. Understanding these predictive factors can help clinicians identify which patients are at highest risk for prolonged disability and may inform rehabilitation and treatment strategies to preserve or restore physical capacity.
This study does not prove that low physical functioning *causes* work disability—it is an association observed over time. The study cannot establish the direction of causality: does declining physical function lead to work disability, or does work disability lead to declining physical function? The findings are also specific to fatigued employees on sick leave and may not generalize to all ME/CFS patients or those who remain employed.
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 →
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