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Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

The Centers for Disease Control embarked on a national awareness campaign in 2006 about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) in order to differentiate it from other causes for fatigue. A great deal of debate has surrounded the issue of how best to define CFS. In an effort to resolve these issues, an international panel of CFS research experts convened in 1994 to draft a definition of CFS that would be useful both to researchers studying the illness and to clinicians diagnosing it. In essence, in order to receive a diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome, a patient must satisfy two criteria:

Have severe chronic fatigue of six months or longer duration with other known medical conditions excluded by clinical diagnosis; and
Concurrently have four or more of the following symptoms: substantial impairment in short-term memory or concentration; sore throat; tender lymph nodes; muscle pain; multi-joint pain without swelling or redness; headaches of a new type, pattern or severity; unrefreshing sleep; and post-exertional malaise lasting more than 24 hours.

The symptoms must have persisted or recurred during six or more consecutive months of illness and must not have predated the fatigue.

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