RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 How fatigue is related to other somatic symptoms
JF Archives of Disease in Childhood
JO Arch Dis Child
FD BMJ Publishing Group Ltd and Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health
SP 824
OP 827
DO 10.1136/adc.2006.094623
VO 91
IS 10
A1 E M van de Putte
A1 R H H Engelbert
A1 W Kuis
A1 J L L Kimpen
A1 C S P M Uiterwaal
YR 2006
UL http://adc.bmj.com/content/91/10/824.abstract
AB Aims: To assess the relation between fatigue and somatic symptoms in healthy adolescents and adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalopathy (CFS/ME).Methods: Seventy two adolescents with CFS were compared within a cross-sectional study design with 167 healthy controls. Fatigue and somatic complaints were measured using self-report questionnaires, respectively the subscale subjective fatigue of the Checklist Individual Strength (CIS-20) and the Children’s Somatization Inventory.Results: Healthy adolescents reported the same somatic symptoms as adolescents with CFS/ME, but with a lower score of severity. The top 10 somatic complaints were the same: low energy, headache, heaviness in arms/legs, dizziness, sore muscles, hot/cold spells, weakness in body parts, pain in joints, nausea/upset stomach, back pain. There was a clear positive relation between log somatic symptoms and fatigue (linear regression coefficient: 0.041 points log somatic complaints per score point fatigue, 95% CI 0.033 to 0.049) which did not depend on disease status.Conclusions: Results suggest a continuum with a gradual transition from fatigue with associated symptoms in healthy adolescents to the symptom complex of CFS/ME.