Neuropsychological Dysfunction in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the Relation between Objective and Subjective Findings

Objective: This study aimed to explore the relationship between self-reported cognitive difficulties, objective neuropsychological test performances, and subjective health complaints in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and to examine the degree of impaired cognitive functions. Method: A total of 236 consecutively recruited outpatients, aged between 18 and 62 years, completed the tests. Self-administered questionnaires were used for assessing fatigue, pain, depression, anxiety and subjective cognitive complaints (Everyday Memory Questionnaire, EMQ). Also, neuropsychological tests, i.e., Stroop I-IV, CVLT-II learning/delay, WAIS-III L-N Sequencing, and PASAT were performed to examine whether these objective measures correlated with subjective complaints and were compared with normative data. Results: There was a trend of association (p