CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME - A CLINICAL AND LABORATORY STUDY WITH A WELL MATCHED CONTROL-GROUP

Objective, To investigate the relation between severity of complaints, laboratory data and psychological parameters in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), Subjects, Eighty-eight patients with CFS and 77 healthy controls matched for age, sex and geographical area, Method s, Patients and controls visited our outpatient clinic for a detailed medical history, physical examination and psychological tests: Checkli st Individual Strength (CIS), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Sick ness Impact Profile (SIP). Venous blood was drawn for a complete blood cell count, serum chemistry panel, C-reactive protein and serological tests on a panel of infectious agents. Results, All patients fulfille d the criteria for CFS as described by Sharpe et nl, (J R Soc Med 1991 ; 84: 118-21), only 18 patients (20.5%) fulfilled the CDC criteria, Th e outcome of serum chemistry tests and haematological tests were withi n the normal range. No significant differences were found in the outco me of serological tests, Compared to controls, significant differences were found in the results on the CIS, the BDI, and the SIP, These res ults varied with the number of complaints (CDC criteria), When the num ber of complaints was included as the covariate in the analysis, there were no significant differences on fatigue severity, depression, and functional impairment between patients who fulfilled the CDC criteria and patients who did not, Conclusion, It is concluded that the psychol ogical parameters of fatigue severity, depression and functional impai rment are related to the clinical severity of the illness, Because the extensive panel of laboratory tests applied in this study did not dis criminate between patients and controls, it was not possible to invest igate a possible relation between the outcomes of psychological and la boratory testing.