Sensitivity and Specificity of the CDC Empirical Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Case Definition – Source: Scientific Research – Psychology, April 2010

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In an effort to bring more standardization to the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) Fukuda et al. case definition [1], the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has developed an empirical case definition [2] that specifies criteria and instruments to diagnose CFS.

The present study investigated the sensitivity and specificity of this CFS empirical case definition with diagnosed individuals with CFS from a community based study that were compared to non-CFS cases.

All participants completed questionnaires measuring:

• Disability (Medical Outcome Survey Short-Form-36) [3],

• Fatigue (the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory) [4],

• And symptoms (CDC Symptom Inventory) [5].

Findings of the present study indicated sensitivity and specificity problems with the CDC empirical CFS case definition.

Source: Scientific Research – Psychology, Apr 2010. 1(1), pp 1-63. DOI:10.4236/psych.2010.11002, by Jason LA, Evans M, Brown A, Brown M, Porter N, Hunnell J, Anderson V, Lerch A. DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, USA. [Email: Ljason@depaul.edu]