Health related quality of life in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

AimTo study health related quality of life (HRQOL) and depressive symptoms in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and to investigate in which domains their HRQOL and depressive symptoms differ from those of healthy adolescents.Background and objectiveSeveral symptoms such as disabling fatigue, pain and depressive symptoms affect different life domains of adolescents with CFS. Compared to adolescents with other chronic diseases, young people with CFS are reported to be severely impaired, both physiologically and mentally. Despite this, few have investigated the HRQOL in this group.MethodThis is a cross-sectional study on HRQOL including 120 adolescents with CFS and 39 healthy controls (HC), between 12 and 18 years. The Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory™, 4.0 (PedsQL) was used to assess HRQOL. The Mood and Feelings Questionnaire assessed depressive symptoms. Data were collected between March 2010 and October 2012 as part of the NorCAPITAL project (Norwegian Study of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Adolescents: Pathophysiology and Intervention Trial). Linear and logistic regression models were used in analysis, and all tests were two-sided.ResultsAdolescents with CFS reported significantly lower overall HRQOL compared to HCs. When controlling for gender differences, CFS patients scored 44 points lower overall HRQOL on a scale from 0–100 compared to HCs. The domains with the largest differences were interference with physical health (B = −59, 95 % CI −54 to −65) and school functioning (B = −52, 95 % CI −45 to −58). Both depressive symptoms and being a patient were independently associated with lower levels of HRQOLConclusionThe difference in HRQOL between CFS patients and healthy adolescents was even larger than we expected. The large sample of adolescents with CFS in our study confirms previous findings from smaller studies, and emphasizes that CFS is a seriously disabling condition that has a strong impact on their HRQOL. Even though depressive symptoms were found in the group of patients, they could not statistically explain the poor HRQOL.

Cow's milk protein intolerance in adolescents and young adults with chronic fatigue syndrome

“…Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is characterised by profound fatigue lasting at least six months, associated with worsening of symptoms after physical and cognitive effort . Sometimes referred to as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), paediatric CFS is also characterised by unrefreshing sleep, lightheadedness, cognitive dysfunction, abdominal pain and headache . Paediatric CFS can contribute to prolonged inability to attend school and to lower quality of life than is observed in other chronic paediatric illnesses .…”

Measuring School Functioning in Students With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Systematic Review

“…Two studies were located which measured achievement motivation using The Achievement Motivation Test for Children; a questionnaire with high internal consistency. Other single studies such as Walford et al measured repeated school level collected via semistructured interviews with parents, and Winger et al measured school functioning using the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory …”

Health-related quality of life in adolescents with CFS/ME, a cross-sectional population based Norwegian study.

“…Adolescents diagnosed with CFS/ME at St. Olavs or Oslo University Hospitals in Norway with age [12][13][14][15][16][17][18] at the time of diagnosis were invited by mail to participate. Participants were asked to fill out a questionnaire and to attend an interview.…”

“…Typically, adolescents with CFS/ME report lower HRQoL than adolescents diagnosed with other chronic health conditions like ADHD, cancer or cerebral palsy [14][15][16][17]. In an earlier Norwegian study of HRQoL among adolescents with CFS/ME, patients scored 49 whereas healthy controls scored 93 on a 0-100 generic HRQoL scale based on PedsQL 4.0 [16].…”