COGNITIVE PERFORMANCE AND COMPLAINTS OF COGNITIVE IMPAIRMENT IN CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME (CFS)

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) complain that they have d ifficulties with concentration and memory but studies to date have not found consistent objective evidence of performance deficits. Two grou ps of CFS patients, depressed and non-depressed, and healthy controls, were asked about concentration problems in general and specifically w hen reading. CFS subjects were more likely than controls to report tha t they had concentration problems when reading, that they needed to re -read text and that they failed to take in what they were reading. Sub jects then performed a task in which their reading behaviour and text recall was measured. While all CFS subjects complained of general cogn itive failures and of difficulties with reading, only depressed CFS su bjects recalled significantly less of the text than controls. Severity of complaints about reading problems was not related to amount of tex t recalled, but was related to severity of depressed mood. However, su bjects were able to evaluate accurately their ability to remember the text immediately after reading it and before being tested for recall. Additionally, subjects performed a paired-associate learning task on w hich no significant differences between the subject groups was found. It is concluded that deficits in cognitive functioning in CFS patients are more likely to be found on naturalistic than on laboratory tasks.