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Mystery fatigue often not chronic fatigue syndrome

Last Updated: 2003-05-30 13:06:25 -0400 (Reuters Health)

LONDON (Reuters Health) - Two out of three people presenting to British family doctors with unexplained fatigue do not meet the criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome, but the condition still significantly affects their life, researchers said on Friday.

Medical researcher Lucy Darbishire and colleagues from Guy's, King's and St. Thomas's School of Medicine in London collected data from 22 general practices in and around London on patients with unexplained fatigue lasting more than six months.

Applying the U.S. Centers for Disease Control Prevention criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome, the researchers found that 69 percent of patients did not have the condition.

Several symptoms, including fatigue and distress, were higher in the chronic fatigue syndrome group. People with the condition were also more likely to be depressed and more than twice as likely to be unemployed, Darbishire and colleagues write in the June issue of the British Journal of General Practice.

Nevertheless, 11 out of 12 symptoms assessed by the researchers were reported by more than 60 percent of the patients who did not have chronic fatigue syndrome, although those symptoms were less severe, the researcher told Reuters Health.

"I don't think we really found a characteristic difference. It really looked as if everything was just more severe in the CFS group. It supports that theory, really, that it's just another end of the spectrum," she said.

"I think the take home message is to remember that there are these two-thirds of patients that present with fatigue that don't meet criteria for CFS because they don't seem as severe, but they do actually have quite distinct illness."

Chronic fatigue syndrome is characterized by a range of symptoms including fatigue, headache, sleep problems, muscle pain and difficulty concentrating.

Patients with the condition, which can strike suddenly, often experience a marked increase in symptoms after only minor bouts of exertion.

The cause of chronic fatigue syndrome is uncertain.

Copyright 2002 Reuters.