Open AccessFrequency and content analysis of chronic fatigue syndrome in medical text books
Author(s) -
Leonard A. Jason,
Erin Paavola,
Nicole Porter,
Morgan L. Morello
Publication year - 2010
Publication title -
australian journal of primary health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.524
H-Index - 30
eISSN - 1836-7399
pISSN - 1448-7527
DOI - 10.1071/py09023
Subject(s) - chronic fatigue syndrome , medicine , population health , cornerstone , content analysis , family medicine , public health , physical therapy , nursing , history , social science , sociology , archaeology
Text books are a cornerstone in the training of medical staff and students, and they are an important source of references and reviews for these professionals. The objective of this study was to determine both the quantity and quality of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) information included in medical texts. After reviewing 119 medical text books from various medical specialties, we found that 48 (40.3%) of the medical text books included information on CFS. However, among the 129 527 total pages within these medical text books, the CFS content was presented on only 116.3 (0.090%) pages. Other illnesses that are less prevalent, such as multiple sclerosis and Lyme disease, were more frequently represented in medical text books. These findings suggest that the topic ofCFS is underreported in published medical text books.