Course and outcome of chronic fatigue in children and adolescents

To describe the epidemiology, symptoms, and psychosocial characteristics of children and adolescents evaluated in a chronic fatigue program and determine the course and outcome of the syndrome in these patients.

During the summer of 1994, chart review was performed for the 58 patients evaluated between 1990 and 1994 and a telephone follow-up was conducted with 42 of the 58 families. Patients were predominantly female (71%) and white (94%), with 50% between the ages of 7 and 14 years and 50% between the ages of 15 and 21 years (mean age 14.6 years).

At time of presentation, 50% of patients had been fatigued for 1 to 6 months and 50% had been fatigued for 7 to 36 months. Sixty percent indicated the fatigue had begun with an acute illness and 60% had a history of allergies. Most commonly reported symptoms were fatigue (100%), headache (74%), sore throat (59%), abdominal pain (48%), fever (36%), and difficulties with concentration and/or memory (33%). Most patients had a worsening of school performance and a decrease in social activities. On follow-up, there was significant improvement in many patients during the summer after the first visit, with continued improvement in most patients during the second and third years. At time of the follow-up telephone call, 43% of families considered their child "cured" and 52% considered their child "improved," whereas only 5% considered their child to be "the same." Statistical analyses demonstrated no demographic or clinical factors that distinguished between those who did or did not participate in the follow-up study, or between those who did or did not do well on follow-up.

These data demonstrate that children and adolescents with chronic fatigue have a syndrome that is similar to that described in adults, but that the syndrome differs in several ways, most specifically, presentation earlier in the course of the illness and a more optimistic outcome.