Expert Centre Chronic Fatigue, Radboud University Nijmegen, Medical Centre, PO Box 9101, 6500 HB Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
Psychiatry Res. 2010 May 15;177(1-2):246-9. doi: 10.1016/j.psychres.2010.02.010. Epub 2010 Mar 5.
Many patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) seem to experience periods in which they are homebound due to their symptomatology. Despite a growing body of research about CFS, little is known about patients who no longer feel able to leave their homes. The purpose of the present study was to examine whether homebound patients differ from other CFS patients on illness-specific characteristics. Besides experiencing more impairment in daily functioning than participants of an outpatient intervention study, homebound patients were characterised by extremely high levels of daily fatigue, predominant somatic attributions, and pervasively passive activity patterns. The course of symptomatology was similarly stable in both groups. Our findings suggest that homebound patients form a distinct subgroup of CFS patients who might profit from a treatment approach that is tailored to their specific needs. The exploratory nature of this first systematic investigation of homebound CFS patients is stressed, and suggestions for future research are made.
许多慢性疲劳综合征（CFS）患者似乎会经历因症状而无法出门的时期。尽管有关 CFS 的研究越来越多，但对于那些不再能够离开家的患者却知之甚少。本研究的目的是检查无法出门的患者在疾病特异性特征上是否与其他 CFS 患者有所不同。除了在日常功能方面的受损程度比门诊干预研究的参与者更严重外，无法出门的患者还表现出极度的日常疲劳、主要的躯体归因和普遍被动的活动模式。两组的症状病程同样稳定。我们的研究结果表明，无法出门的患者构成了 CFS 患者的一个特定亚组，他们可能会受益于针对其特定需求的治疗方法。强调了对无法出门的 CFS 患者进行首次系统调查的探索性性质，并提出了未来研究的建议。
