What’s in a name? Plenty, when the subject is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), according to DePaul University psychology professor Leonard Jason, whose recent study suggests that a name change would result in the much-maligned illness being taken more seriously.

An international debate on the issue weighs whether or not CFS’s weak moniker has hampered efforts to gain recognition and government support. Jason was joined by Sigita Plioplys, M.D., a psychiatry resident affiliated with the University of Illinois at Chicago and a research team from DePaul, which set out to determine if doctors’ perceptions of the disease would change if the name were changed.

The team found that when groups of medical trainees reviewed case studies of CFS patients that featured three different names for the disease, their perceptions did change depending on the name the illness was given. The names used in the study were: CFS, Florence Nightingale Disease (FN), named for the public health nurse who served during the Crimean War and was believed to have suffered from chronic fatigue; and Myalgic Encephalopathy (ME), the medically based term used to describe the condition.

More than 100 Chicago medical students and residents responded to questions pertaining to prognosis, correct diagnosis, illness cause and appropriate treatment.

When asked to assess the likelihood that the patient would improve within two years, 42 percent of the medical trainees assessing the Florence Nightingale name, and a similar 41 percent of trainees evaluating the CFS name responded that it was likely or very likely that the patient would improve. However, only 16 percent of the students and residents who thought the condition was called Myalgic Encephalopathy felt it was likely or very likely that the patient would improve. This finding suggests that the doctors perceived the ME label as being indicative of a more chronic and debilitating illness as compared to the labels CFS and FN, Jason said.

When asked what factors were most likely responsible for the person’s illness, a greater proportion of medical trainees in the ME group attributed the illness to medical causes (39 percent) as compared with trainees in the FN (30 percent) and CFS (22 percent) groups.

"If you have a more medical-sounding name it does seem to change perceptions of the illness," said Jason. "This study provides a much-needed methodology for helping to change the name, and a way to go about it in a scientific, systematic way."

According to Jason, a more biological-sounding name for CFS will be beneficial because people tend to interact in a more sympathetic way when an illness has a name that communicates medical and scientific legitimacy. Also, the perception that CFS is a trivial illness has negatively affected government funding and support services. Jason indicated that more research and studies are needed to erase this myth.

Jason has conducted numerous studies on the prevalence of CFS and has written a book about the condition.

Other study team members were Renee A. Taylor, a project director affiliated with DePaul’s psychology department; Jennifer Shlaes, a graduate student of psychology at DePaul, and Zuzanna Stepanek, a volunteer research assistant and recent graduate of DePaul’s bachelor’s degree program in psychology.

The study, "Evaluating Attributions for an Illness based upon the Name: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Myalgic Encephalopathy and Florence Nightingale Disease," was reported in the July/August 1999 issue of the "Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) Chronicle."

The findings of the study have bolstered Jason’s confidence that CFS will have a new name in the future. "In the next year or two, a new name will come," said Jason. "A consensus is needed on what to change it to, and the scientific community will have to make that decision."

CFS is a chronic condition with symptoms that are severe, but often difficult to detect upon physical examination. They include fatigue, headaches and insomnia. For years the condition went un- or misdiagnosed because physicians weren’t able to differentiate between common fatigue and CFS.

Jason can be reached at 773/325-2018 for more information.