A comparison of health status in patients meeting alternative definitions for chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalo
- PDF / 173,968 Bytes
- 7 Pages / 595.28 x 793.7 pts Page_size
- 74 Downloads / 216 Views
RESEARCH
Open Access
A comparison of health status in patients meeting alternative definitions for chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis Samantha C Johnston1*, Ekua W Brenu1, Sharni L Hardcastle1, Teilah K Huth1, Donald R Staines1,2 and Sonya M Marshall-Gradisnik1
Abstract Background: Several diagnostic definitions are available for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) that varies significantly in their symptom criteria. This pilot study was conducted to determine whether simple biological and clinical measures differed between CFS/ME patients meeting the 1994 Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) criteria, the International Consensus Criteria (ICC), as well as healthy controls. Methods: A total of 45 CFS/ME patients and 30 healthy controls from the South East Queensland region of Australia provided a blood sample, reported on their current symptoms, as well as aspects of their physical and social health using the Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36), and the World Health Organisation Disability Adjustment Schedule 2.0 (WHO DAS 2.0). Differences were examined using independent sample t-testing. Results: Patients fulfilling the ICC definition reported significantly lower scores (p < 0.05) for physical functioning, physical role, bodily pain, and social functioning than those that only fulfilled the 1994 CDC definition. ICC patients reported significantly greater (p < 0.05) disability across all domains of the WHO DAS 2.0. Conclusions: These preliminary findings suggest that the ICC identifies a distinct subgroup found within patients complying with the 1994 CDC definition, with more severe impairment to their physical and social functioning. Keywords: Chronic fatigue syndrome, Disability, Myalgic encephalomyelitis, Health-related quality of life
Introduction The term Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) first appeared in the literature in 1988 when the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) described an illness of debilitating fatigue accompanied by a various combination of symptoms [1]. Throughout the 1950s to 1980s however, outbreaks of CFS/ME-like illness have been reported as Bornholm disease [2], Iceland disease [3], the Royal Free Hospital epidemic [4], as well as Chronic Epstein Barr Virus Syndrome [5]. In recent decades, several formal case definitions have been released for CFS/ME [6-12], and each differ significantly in the symptoms they emphasise, as well as their exclusion criteria [13]. * Correspondence: [email protected] 1 Griffith Health Institute, School of Medical Sciences, National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases, Griffith University, Parklands, QLD 4222, Australia Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
The most common definition is the 1994 CDC, which requires the presence of debilitating fatigue of 6 months, and at least four of eight, mostly flu-like symptoms [8]. It was primarily developed for the selection of adult cases in research however, conc
Data Loading...
