The development of a short form of the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire.
Madison Sunnquist, Savitri Lazarus, Leonard A Jason
PMID 31318234WHAT IT FOUND
A 14-item short form of the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire can screen ME/CFS symptoms quickly and agreed with the full questionnaire in 86.8% to 97.4% of people checked against ME/CFS criteria.
Key findings
01The short form kept 14 symptoms, including fatigue, next-day soreness after non-strenuous activity, minimum exercise makes you physically tired, unrefreshing sleep, muscle pain, bloating, problems remembering things, difficulty paying attention, irritable bowel problems, feeling unsteady on your feet, cold limbs, feeling hot or cold for no reason, flu-like symptoms, and feeling sick from smells, foods, medications, or chemicals.
02For the Fukuda ME/CFS criteria, the short-form algorithm agreed with the full DePaul questionnaire for 97.4% of people; it detected 97.5% of cases and correctly excluded 95.5% of people who did not meet the Fukuda criteria.
03For the Canadian and IOM criteria, the short form agreed with the full questionnaire in 86.8% and 87.6% of people, respectively.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they found
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What it does not show
The samples were convenience samples, so the participants were not representative of the general population. Diagnosis was not always confirmed by a physician, and ME or CFS has many case definitions, so participants may have been diagnosed using different criteria. Recruitment differed across sites, which could affect comparisons. The control groups were relatively small. The short form asks about symptoms over the past six months, so it may be slow to show short-term changes. It is intended as a screening tool, not a replacement for full medical evaluation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the short form's agreement with the full questionnaire as proof that it diagnoses ME or CFS. It is a screening measure, and the authors state that diagnosis requires a full medical evaluation.