The evidence base for physiotherapy in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome when considering post-exertional malaise: a systematic review and narrative synthesis

Table 1 Diagnostic criteria classification with respect to the significance of PEM and other core symptoms

Criteria set ME/CFS		Post-exertional malaise inclusion
	Author/institution	No PEM (CF)	Optional PEM (CFS)	Required PEM (ME)
CDC (1988), Holmes definition	Holmes 1988 [53], Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA		X
Oxford (1991)	Sharpe 1991 [22]	X
CDC (1994), Fukuda definition	Fukuda 1994 [23], Centers for Disease Control and Prevention		X
London (1994)	The National Task Force on CFS/PVFS/ME 1994 [54]		X^a
CCC (2003), Canadian Consensus Criteria for ME/CFS	Carruthers 2003 [24]			X
Empirical CDC (2005)	Reeves 2005 [55], Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, USA		X
NICE guideline (2007)	Nice 2007 [56], UK’s National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence		X^b
Canada-revised (2010)	Jason 2010 [57]			X
ME-ICC (2011), International Consensus Criteria for ME	Carruthers 2011 [25]			X^c
IOM (2015) (SEID)	Institute of Medicine 2015 [1]			X

^aRequires exercise-induced fatigue, but does not require presence of all core symptoms;
^bNo PEM required (may be post-exertional fatigue) and does not require presence of all core symptoms;
^cPost-exertional neuroimmune exhaustion (PENE)

ISSN: 1479-5876