Prevalence of Chronic Fatigue in Adolescents

Study by James G. Dobbins, Bonnie Randall, Lea Steele, et al.

Reported by Vicki L. Carpman, reprinted from the Winter 1997 issue of The CFIDS Chronicle

James G. Dobbins, MD and his colleagues at the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) reviewed three studies done by the CDC to estimate rates of chronic fatigue, CFS-like illness and CFS in children and adolescents, and to determine whether the current CFS case definition was suitable for identifying younger people with the disease.

The three studies used were: a physician-referral based surveillance system in four U.S. cities; a community- based study conducted in San Francisco; and a survey of school nurses in Wichita and Reno. All of these studies included adolescents over age 12; only one considered younger children. The findings of each study are in the table at right.

Dr. Dobbins concluded that CFS is less common in adolescents than in adults, is extremely rare in young children and that the current case definition is valid for identifying children and adolescents with this disorder.

Dobbins’ conclusions have not been universally accepted, however. Critics have suggested that the city of San Francisco has fewer children than most U.S. cities and therefore is not a representative study population, and that "fatigue" is not a term used to describe the initial presentation of CFIDS in young children; "sleepiness," "tiredness" or "has less energy than his/her friends" are used more often.

The San Francisco telephone-based study’s initial screening question asked about members of the household who were "fatigued"; if another term was used to describe a child’s symptoms, he or she would not be counted.

Rebecca Moore, chairman of CFIDS Youth Alliance, is currently lobbying CDC to consider these factors when designing future epidemiological studies which include children with fatiguing illness.