Research on Children with CFIDS Published

By David M. Hoh

Originally published in Youth Allied By CFIDS, Summer 1997

Volume 3, No. 2 of the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome reports on research involving children and adolescents with CFIDS. It includes:

• An editorial by Dr. David S. Bell, a renowned CFIDS expert and pediatrician.
• A paper by Karen Jordan, PhD, et al. describing the challenges unique to studying CFIDS in children.
• A summary of information about the prevalence of CFIDS in adolescents gathered by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) during the course of several studies.
• The report of a study conducted in England on long-term absences from school that result from chronic fatigue syndrome. The study determined that 42% of all long-term school absences in the schools surveyed were due to the illness.
• Dr. Bell’s research into onset characteristics of CFIDS in children. Less than half of the children in his study had sudden onset, but Dr. Bell found that the severity of symptoms was not determined by type of onset.
• An opinion based on clinical observations by James F. Jones, MD, a pediatrician at National Jewish Medical and Research Center in Denver. Dr. Jones cautions that CFIDS in adolescents should be considered a working diagnosis until other reasons for each complaint are ruled out.
• An article describing management of CFIDS in children by clinician Charles W. Lapp, MD, a family doctor in Charlotte, N.C. Dr. Lapp describes supportive therapy, lifestyle changes, treatment of symptoms and issues involving school.

Individual copies of this journal will not be available from the publisher until 1998, but you can purchase all four 1997 issues (volume 3) for $32.40 by calling 800/HAWORTH.

David Hoh is the editor of The CFIDS Chronicle. This article was adapted from one he wrote for the Chronicle.