Tanaka, Masaaki, Fukuda, Sanae, Mizuno, Kei et al. · Psychological reports · 2008 · DOI
This study tested whether a fatigue measurement tool called the Chalder Fatigue Scale works well in Japanese. Researchers gave the scale to healthy schoolchildren and young people with childhood chronic fatigue syndrome to see if it could reliably measure how tired they were. The tool performed reasonably well and was able to tell the difference between healthy children and those with severe fatigue.
Having validated fatigue measurement tools in multiple languages is essential for comparing ME/CFS research across countries and ensuring consistent diagnosis and monitoring. This study provides evidence that the Chalder Fatigue Scale can be reliably used in Japanese populations, supporting international research collaboration and enabling better identification of childhood ME/CFS cases in Japan and other Japanese-speaking regions.
This study does not prove that the scale is suitable for clinical diagnosis or treatment monitoring in routine care, as the authors note it is satisfactory primarily for research among healthy students. The moderate test-retest reliability (0.55) suggests the scale may not be ideal for tracking individual patients over time. The study does not establish whether the scale captures disease-specific features of ME/CFS or how it performs in adult populations.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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