COGNITIVE-FUNCTIONING IN PATIENTS WITH CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME

A comprehensive battery of neuropsychological tests was administered t o 35 outpatients suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). They w ere compared to 33 normal controls matched for age, gender, intelligen ce, and education. The patients displayed psychomotor slowing and impa ired attention. The learning rate of verbal and visual material for pa tients with CFS was slower, and delayed recall of verbal and visual in formation was impaired. Because there was a high variability in cognit ive impairment within the CFS group, it would be inappropriate to gene ralize results to the entire CFS population. Two neuropsychological va riables indicating aspects of psychomotor performance and verbal memor y were found to discriminate best between patients and controls.