ArticleClinical child psychology and psychiatry2019
Depressive symptoms in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS): Are rates higher than in controls and do depressive symptoms affect outcome?
Article in Clinical child psychology and psychiatry, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 11 citations in OpenAlex.
- Recent research in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: an evidence map.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Pooled it
- Comparison of cognitive behaviour therapy versus activity management, both delivered remotely, to treat paediatric chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis: the UK FITNET-NHS RCT.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2024Trial
- The role of disease history score in the association between depression history and current ME/CFS among US adults.Frontiers in public health · 2026Article
- COVID-19-Related Stigma and Mental Health of Children and Adolescents During Pandemic.Clinical child psychology and psychiatry · 2022Article
- Health, Wellbeing, and Prognosis of Australian Adolescents with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): A Case-Controlled Follow-Up Study.Journal of clinical medicine · 2021Article
- Who should we ask about mental health symptoms in adolescents with CFS/ME? Parent-child agreement on the revised children's anxiety and depression scale.Clinical child psychology and psychiatry · 2021Article
- Sleep problems in adolescents with CFS: A case-control study nested within a prospective clinical cohort.Clinical child psychology and psychiatry · 2020Article
- Depressive symptoms at age 9-13 and chronic disabling fatigue at age 16: A longitudinal study.Journal of adolescence · 2019Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
4 authors at 3 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
introductionPrevious research has indicated that co-morbid depression is common in adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).
objectivesWe sought to compare the characteristics of depressive symptoms in adolescents with CFS to those of healthy controls (HCs) and illness controls (adolescents with asthma).
designCase-control study nested within a prospective clinical cohort.
methodsA total of 121 adolescents with CFS who attended an initial assessment at two specialist CFS units completed the Children's Depression Inventory (CDI). Their responses were compared to 80 HCs and 27 adolescents with asthma (illness controls). The clinical cohort of adolescents with CFS completed questionnaires at assessment, and those who were seen subsequently for treatment at the CFS unit (68%) completed the measures again at their first treatment session.
resultsCFS participants scored significantly higher on all the depression subscales than participants with asthma and HCs. Depression score explained 11% of the variance in subsequent fatigue, but only 1.9% of the variance in physical functioning. Depression score also explained most (68%) of the variance in subsequent depression.
conclusionDepressive symptoms are more prominent in adolescents with CFS than in HCs or illness controls. These symptoms also appear to remain over time during a naturalistic follow-up where no treatment was provided. This highlights the need for further research into depression in CFS, including stratifying treatment outcomes by depression status to determine what is effective at addressing these symptoms.
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.