Tag: exclusionary conditions

Unintended Consequences of not Specifying Exclusionary Illnesses for Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease

Abstract:

The Institute of Medicine recently proposed a new case definition for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), as well as a new name, Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease (SEID). Contrary to the Fukuda et al.’s CFS case definition, there are few exclusionary illnesses specified for this new SEID case definition.

The current study explored this decision regarding exclusionary illnesses using the SEID criteria with four distinct data sets involving patients who had been identified as having CFS, as well as healthy controls, community controls, and other illness groups. The findings indicate that many individuals from major depressive disorder illness groups as well as other medical illnesses were categorized as having SEID. The past CFS Fukuda et al. prevalence rate in a community based sample of 0.42 increased by 2.8 times with the new SEID criteria. The consequences for this broadening of the case definition are discussed.

 

Source: Jason LA, Sunnquist M, Kot B, Brown A. Unintended Consequences of not Specifying Exclusionary Illnesses for Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease. Diagnostics (Basel). 2015 Jun 23;5(2):272-86. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics5020272. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4666441/ (Full article)

 

Complications in operationalizing lifelong fatigue as an exclusionary criterion

Abstract:

The case definitions for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and chronic fatigue syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) stipulate that the experience of lifelong fatigue is an exclusionary criterion (Carruthers et al., 2003 ; Fukuda et al., 1994 ). This article examines the lifelong fatigue construct and identifies potential validity and reliability issues in using lifelong fatigue as an exclusionary condition.

Participants in the current study completed the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire (Jason et al., 2010 ), and responses were examined to determine if they had experienced lifelong fatigue. This article discusses the extensive process that was needed to confidently discern which participants had or did not have lifelong fatigue. Using the most rigorous standards, few individuals were classified as having lifelong fatigue. In addition, those with and without lifelong fatigue had few significant differences in symptoms and functional areas. This article concludes with a recommendation that lifelong fatigue should no longer be used as an exclusionary criterion for CFS or ME/CFS.

 

Source: Sunnquist M, Jason LA, Brown A, Evans M, Berman A. Complications in operationalizing lifelong fatigue as an exclusionary criterion. J Prev Interv Community. 2015;43(1):42-53. doi: 10.1080/10852352.2014.973238. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4295633/ (Full article)