[School phobia and childhood chronic fatigue syndrome (CCFS)].
Chronic fatigue occurring in previously healthy children and adolescents is a vexing problem encountered by pediatric practitioners and the impact of fatigue in youngsters should not be underestimated. In its severe form, it is often associated with mood disorders. Findings in children and adolescent cases suggest that severe unexplained fatigue might precede the development of fatigue-related illness, such as childhood chronic fatigue syndrome (CCFS). This is a disabling condition characterized by severe disabling fatigue and a combination of symptoms, the prominent features being self-reported impairments in concentration and short-term memory, sleep disturbances and autonomic symptoms that cannot be explained by medical or psychiatric illness. We have encountered such patients with these complaints; their major symptoms include: general fatigue, fever, headache (not migraine), and memory disturbance. From our clinical experience, we have inferred that patients with CCFS might experience changes in brain function levels, which induce an autonomic imbalance and engender symptoms such as general fatigue, higher-order level cognitive dysfunction, and memory disturbance.
Tomoda
Akemi
A
Department of Child Developmental Sociology, Faculty of Medical and Pharmaceutical Sciences, Kumamoto University.
D000293:Adolescent; D001323:Autoantibodies / Q000097:blood; D001341:Autonomic Nervous System / Q000503:physiopathology; D050260:Carbohydrate Metabolism; D002560:Cerebrovascular Circulation; D002648:Child; D016207:Cytokines / Q000097:blood; D004562:Electrocardiography; D018913:Event-Related Potentials, P300; D005074:Evoked Potentials, Visual; D015673:Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*; D005625:Frontal Lobe / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D050356:Lipid Metabolism; D010698:Phobic Disorders / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology*
D001323:Autoantibodies; D016207:Cytokines