Review of juvenile primary fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome

This article reviews the current literature on childhood fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. In doing so, it questions assumptions about the presumed nature of the disorders - that they are distinct from each other and are duplicates of their adult counterparts. It also attempts to synthesize the available data to reach some preliminary judgments about these disorders: that fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome may be related in children and may not be duplicates of the adult disorders; that psychological and psychosocial factors are unlikely contributors to the etiology of these disorders; and that the evidence is increasingly pointing to a role for genetic factors in their etiology. A discussion of the research into treatments for childhood fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome highlights the lack of well-designed, controlled studies. Finally, directions for future research are offered where results of the current literature are unclear.