De Sanctis, V, Mangiagli, A, Campisi, S et al. · Minerva pediatrica · 2002
This study looked at how common fatigue is among Italian teenagers aged 12-15 by surveying students in schools. Researchers found that about 70% of adolescents reported experiencing fatigue. The study explains that while fatigue after infections is common, severe or long-lasting fatigue in teenagers should be evaluated by doctors to find out if there's an underlying cause, and it briefly describes chronic fatigue syndrome using standard diagnostic criteria.
This study documents that fatigue is extremely common in adolescents (70% prevalence), highlighting the importance of distinguishing normal tiredness from clinically significant fatigue disorders like ME/CFS. By providing a practical diagnostic screening approach for youth with persistent fatigue, it addresses a clinical gap relevant to early identification and management of ME/CFS in younger populations.
This study does not establish the prevalence of ME/CFS specifically, nor does it prove that the 70% fatigue prevalence includes cases meeting formal ME/CFS diagnostic criteria. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causation or temporal relationships between infections and fatigue onset, and the abstract provides no data on post-exertional malaise or other ME/CFS-specific features.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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