Arch Dis Child. 2008 Jan 11 [Epub ahead of print]

Chronic fatigue syndrome in children aged 11 years old and younger.

Davies SM, Crawley EM. Gloucester Royal Hospital, United Kingdom.

AIM: To describe children who presented to the Bath paediatric CFS/ME service under the age of 12.

Method: Inventories measuring fatigue, pain, functional disability, anxiety, family history and symptoms were collected prospectively for all children presenting to the Bath CFS/ME service between September 2004 and April 2007. Data from children who presented to the service under the age of 12 were described and compared to those who presented at age 12 or older.

RESULTS: 178 children (under the age of 18) were diagnosed as having CFS/ME using the RCPCH criteria out of 216 children assessed. The mean age at assessment for children with CFS/ME was 14.5 years old (SD 2.9). 32 (16%) children were under 12 years old at the time of assessment, four children were under 5 years old and the youngest child was 2 years old. Children under 12 were very disabled with mean school attendance of just over 40% (average 2 days a week), Chalder Fatigue score of 8.29 (CI 7.14 -9.43 maximum possible score=11) and pain visual analogue score of 39.7 (possible range 0-100). Comparison with the children aged 12 or older showed that both groups were remarkably similar at assessment. 24/26 children with complete symptom lists, would have been diagnosed as having CFS/ME using the stricter adult CDC criteria.

CONCLUSION: Disability in the under 12 age group was high, with low levels of school attendance, high level of fatigue, anxiety, functional disability and pain. The clinical pattern seen is almost identical to that seen in older children and the majority of children would also be diagnosed as having CFS/ME using the stricter adult definition.

PMID: 18192312 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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