Abstract
Purpose: To identify significant behavioural and somatic symptoms associated with formal receipt of a chronic fatigue syndrome diagnosis.
Design: Retrospective cross‐sectional analysis of patient self‐report questionnaires held on a computerized database.
Materials and Methods: Analysis of self‐report responses to a questionnaire from patients referred from a UK clinic specializing in the diagnosis and treatment of fatigue disorders (n=371), 259 of whom were formally diagnosed either exclusively or combinatorially with fatigue diagnoses of myalgic encephalomyelitis, chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.
Results: Non‐parametric (chi‐squared) analysis showed that 17 response items (current and historical behavioural/somatic variables) were significantly associated with patients formally diagnosed with fatigue disorders (p<0.01).
Conclusions: The presence of current and historical variables outside of the traditional diagnostic framework of fatigue syndromes provides preliminary evidence for a redefinition of exclusive overlapping fatigue syndromes into a more general spectral model.