Poor sleep quality is associated with greater circulating pro-inflammatory cytokines and severity and frequency of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) symptoms in women
Poor sleep quality has been linked to inflammatory processes and worse disease outcomes in the context of many chronic illnesses, but less is known in conditions such as chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME). This study examines the relationships between sleep quality, pro-inflammatory cytokines, and CFS/ME symptoms.
Sixty women diagnosed with CFS/ME were assessed using the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI), Fatigue Symptom Inventory (FSI) and Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)-based CFS/ME symptom questionnaires. Circulating plasma pro-inflammatory cytokine levels were measured by ELISA. Multiple regression analyses examined associations between sleep, cytokines and symptoms, controlling for age, education, and body mass index.
Poor sleep quality (PSQI global score) was associated with greater pro-inflammatory cytokine levels: interleukin-1β (IL-1β) (β=0.258, p=0.043), IL-6 (β=0.281, p=0.033), and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-α) (β=0.263, p=0.044). Worse sleep quality related to greater fatigue severity (β=0.395, p=0.003) and fatigue-related interference with daily activities (β=0.464, p<0.001), and more severe and frequent CDC-defined core CFS/ME symptoms (β=0.499, p<0.001, and β=0.556, p<0.001, respectively).
Results underscore the importance of managing sleep-related difficulties in this patient population. Further research is needed to identify the etiology of sleep disruptions in CFS/ME and mechanistic factors linking sleep quality to symptom severity and inflammatory processes.
This research output has an Altmetric Attention Score of 34. This is our high-level measure of the quality and quantity of online attention that it has received. This Attention Score, as well as the ranking and number of research outputs shown below, was calculated when the research output was last mentioned on 16 June 2025.
All research outputs
#1,503,319
of 34,624,586 outputs
Outputs from Journal of Neuroimmunology
#40
of 3,883 outputs
Outputs of similar age
#22,490
of 459,959 outputs
Outputs of similar age from Journal of Neuroimmunology
#3
of 32 outputs
Altmetric has tracked 34,624,586 research outputs across all sources so far. Compared to these this one has done particularly well and is in the 95th percentile: it's in the top 5% of all research outputs ever tracked by Altmetric.
So far Altmetric has tracked 3,883 research outputs from this source. They typically receive a little more attention than average, with a mean Attention Score of 6.2. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 98% of its peers.
Older research outputs will score higher simply because they've had more time to accumulate mentions. To account for age we can compare this Altmetric Attention Score to the 459,959 tracked outputs that were published within six weeks on either side of this one in any source. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 95% of its contemporaries.
We're also able to compare this research output to 32 others from the same source and published within six weeks on either side of this one. This one has done particularly well, scoring higher than 90% of its contemporaries.
