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Illness duration, mood and symptom impact in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis?
  1. Francesca K Neale1,
  2. Deborah Christie2,
  3. Dougal S Hargreaves3,
  4. Terry Y Segal4
  1. 1 Medical School, University College London, London, UK
  2. 2 Department of Child and Adolescent Psychological Medicine, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
  3. 3 Department of Primary Care and Public Health, Imperial College London, London, UK
  4. 4 Department of Paediatrics, University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK
  1. Correspondence to Francesca K Neale, Medical School, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK; francesca.neale.14{at}ucl.ac.uk

https://doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2018-316720

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    Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a disabling condition that affects 0.4% to 2.4%1 of adolescents in the UK. Previous studies have reported high levels of anxiety, depression and worry among adolescents with CFS/ME.2 In adult studies, concerns have been raised about delays in accessing specialist CFS/ME services and the impact of delays on patients’ health and well-being.3 4 In this study, we aimed first to assess the prevalence of self-reported anxiety/depression, worry and degree of symptom impact among our patient population of adolescents with CFS/ME. We then investigated whether longer illness duration was associated with higher prevalence of self-reported anxiety/depression, worry and symptom impact at initial assessment.

    One hundred and nine adolescents, aged 10 to 18 years (median 15.9 years), with a diagnosis of CFS/ME based …

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    Footnotes

    • Contributors FN and TS conceived the study. FN collected and analysed the data and wrote the first draft of the manuscript. FN, TS, DH and DC contributed to the study design, revised the manuscript and approved the final version.

    • Competing interests None declared.

    • Provenance and peer review Not commissioned; externally peer reviewed.

    • Data sharing statement Deidentified participant data is available from the authors (ORCID 0000-0002-3316-164X).

    • Patient consent for publication Not required.