16 January 2008
Chronic fatigue syndrome in children aged 11 years old and
younger.
Journal: Arch Dis Child. 2008 Jan 11 [Epub ahead of
print]
Authors: Davies SM, Crawley EM.
Affiliation: Gloucester
Royal Hospital, United Kingdom.
NLM Citation: PMID:
18192312
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.