Kennedy, Gwen, Underwood, Christine, Belch, Jill Janette Freda · Pediatrics · 2010 · DOI
This study compared the quality of life of 25 children with ME/CFS to 23 healthy children of similar age and gender. Children with ME/CFS reported much lower quality of life across nearly all areas measured, including physical health, daily activities, and overall well-being. Most children with ME/CFS attended school part-time or received home tutoring only, showing how significantly the illness affects their ability to participate in normal daily life.
This study provides quantitative evidence that ME/CFS in children causes profound impairment comparable to or exceeding other serious pediatric conditions like diabetes and asthma. These findings underscore the need for recognition of ME/CFS as a serious illness affecting multiple life domains and support advocacy for educational accommodations and healthcare resources for affected children.
This study does not identify the causes of reduced quality of life or establish whether specific ME/CFS symptoms drive particular functional deficits. Being cross-sectional, it cannot determine whether quality of life improves or worsens over time, nor does it prove that the functional limitations are permanent or unchangeable.
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 →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Kennedy, Gwen, Underwood, Christine, & Belch, Jill Janette Freda (2010). Physical and functional impact of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis in childhood.. Pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2009-2644
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-kennedy-2010-physical-functional,
author = {Kennedy, Gwen and Underwood, Christine and Belch, Jill Janette Freda},
title = {Physical and functional impact of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis in childhood.},
journal = {Pediatrics},
year = {2010},
doi = {10.1542/peds.2009-2644},
note = {PubMed: 20478937},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kennedy-2010-physical-functional},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kennedy-2010-physical-functional
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