Sensitivity and Specificity of the CDC Empirical Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Case Definition

Abstract

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 crite-ria and instruments to diagnose CFS. The present study investigated the sensitivity and specificity of this CFS em-pirical 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 defi-nition.