SLEEP ABNORMALITIES DEMONSTRATED BY HOME POLYSOMNOGRAPHY IN TEENAGERSWITH CHRONIC-FATIGUE-SYNDROME

To provide objective information about sleep physiology in young peopl e with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), home polysomnography (PSG) was performed on 18 teenagers, aged 11-17 years, in whom CFS had been diag nosed according to internationally accepted criteria. The results were compared with those for healthy controls matched individually for gen der and age. Compared with controls, CFS subjects showed significantly higher levels of sleep disruption by both brief and longer awakenings . Disruption of sleep in this way could at least contribute to the day time symptoms of young people with CFS, The underlying cause of the di sruption needs to be considered in each individual case. Further resea rch is required to clarify the relative contribution of this neurobiol ogical aspect of CFS in young people. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science Inc.