ME/CFS Evidence Browser — Classified Studies on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

2785 studies

2181–2200 of 2,785 studies

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredObservational

Self-management training for people with chronic disease: an exploratory study.

Wright, C C, Barlow, J H, Turner, A P et al.·British journal of health psychology·2003

This study tested whether a self-management training course designed for people with various chronic diseases—including ME/CFS—could help them feel better. The course, taught by community volunteers, focused on practical skills like managing symptoms using mental strategies and talking with doctors. After four months, participants reported less fatigue, better mood, and more confidence in managing their illness.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM unclearCase-Control

Complement activation in a model of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Sorensen, Bristol, Streib, Joanne E, Strand, Matthew et al.·The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology·2003

Researchers asked people with ME/CFS and healthy controls to exercise on a stationary bike, then tracked their symptoms and blood markers over the following week. They found that people with ME/CFS had a specific increase in a immune system marker called C4a six hours after exercise, and their fatigue and reduced activity worsened significantly, while healthy controls did not show these changes.

Immune SystemPost-Exertional Malaise

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Fatigue, burnout, and chronic fatigue syndrome among employees on sick leave: do attributions make the difference?

Huibers, M J H, Beurskens, A J H M, Prins, J B et al.·Occupational and environmental medicine·2003

This study compared three types of fatigue conditions in workers on sick leave: general persistent fatigue, burnout, and ME/CFS. Researchers found that workers whose fatigue matched ME/CFS patterns tended to blame physical causes for their illness, while workers with burnout tended to blame psychological causes. Interestingly, workers with fatigue shared many similarities with diagnosed ME/CFS patients, but how they explained their illness differed between groups.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCase-Control

Symptoms of rhinosinusitis in patients with unexplained chronic fatigue or bodily pain: a pilot study.

Chester, Alexander C·Archives of internal medicine·2003

This study looked at whether people with unexplained chronic fatigue or body pain experience more sinus and nasal symptoms than people without these conditions. Researchers compared 297 patients and found that those with unexplained fatigue were much more likely to report symptoms like facial pressure, headaches, nasal obstruction, and postnasal drip—but not allergies. This suggests that sinus problems may be connected to chronic fatigue in ways doctors haven't fully recognized.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Effects of posttraumatic stress disorder on cardiovascular stress responses in Gulf War veterans with fatiguing illness.

Peckerman, Arnold, Dahl, Kristina, Chemitiganti, Rahul et al.·Autonomic neuroscience : basic & clinical·2003

This study looked at how the bodies of Gulf War veterans with chronic fatigue respond to stress, particularly focusing on heart rate and blood pressure changes. The researchers found that veterans who had both chronic fatigue and PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) showed unusual cardiovascular responses to mental tasks and changes in position, such as lower blood pressure increases and slower recovery. These abnormal responses were much less pronounced in fatigued veterans without PTSD, suggesting that PTSD may be an important factor in how the body reacts to stress in this population.

Autonomic Nervous System

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Aerobic capacity of Gulf War veterans with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Nagelkirk, Paul R, Cook, Dane B, Peckerman, Arnold et al.·Military medicine·2003

This study tested whether Gulf War veterans with ME/CFS had reduced exercise capacity compared to healthy Gulf War veterans. Researchers measured how well the heart and lungs worked during maximum exercise on a stationary bike. Surprisingly, the two groups performed similarly—those with ME/CFS were able to exercise just as hard and achieve similar fitness levels as the healthy veterans.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Distinguishing patients with chronic fatigue from those with chronic fatigue syndrome: a diagnostic study in UK primary care.

Darbishire, L, Ridsdale, L, Seed, P T·The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners·2003

This study looked at 141 people in UK doctor's offices who came in with fatigue lasting six months or longer. The researchers found that about two-thirds had chronic fatigue that didn't quite meet the official ME/CFS definition, while one-third had ME/CFS. People with ME/CFS had more severe symptoms, were more likely to be depressed and unemployed, and visited their doctor much more often than those with chronic fatigue alone.

Diagnostics

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCase-Control

Life events, difficulties and dilemmas in the onset of chronic fatigue syndrome: a case-control study.

Hatcher, Simon, House, Allan·Psychological medicine·2003

This study compared 64 people with ME/CFS to 64 similar people without the condition to see if stressful life events played a role in developing the illness. Researchers found that ME/CFS patients were much more likely to have experienced severe stress or difficult situations in the few months before getting sick. Particularly interesting was that about 30% of ME/CFS patients had faced an unsolvable dilemma (a 'no-win' situation) before illness onset, while none of the healthy controls had experienced this.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM unclearCross-Sectional

Diagnosing chronic fatigue syndrome: comparison of a protocol and computerised questionnaires.

Prins, J B, Elving, L D, Koning, H et al.·The Netherlands journal of medicine·2003

This study looked at whether doctors and researchers using a computer questionnaire agreed on who has ME/CFS. They reviewed 516 patients with chronic fatigue and found that doctors and researchers agreed about 84% of the time. When they disagreed, it was usually because they couldn't agree on how severe the fatigue was or how much it affected daily life. Only 3% of patients had a physical medical condition that explained their fatigue.

Diagnostics

E2 ModeratePEM not requiredRegistry-Resource

The Mid-Atlantic Twin Registry.

Anderson, Lisa S, Beverly, William T, Corey, Linda A et al.·Twin research : the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies·2002

The Mid-Atlantic Twin Registry is a large database of over 51,000 twin pairs born in Virginia, North Carolina, and South Carolina between 1913 and 2000. Researchers use this registry to study many health conditions, including chronic fatigue syndrome, by comparing identical and fraternal twins to understand which health problems may run in families or be inherited. The registry carefully protects participant privacy and allows qualified researchers to recruit twins for specific studies.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Prevalence of allergen-specific IgE among patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Kowal, Krzysztof, Schacterele, Richard S, Schur, Peter H et al.·Allergy and asthma proceedings·2002

This study tested 50 ME/CFS patients for allergies by measuring specific immune proteins called allergen-specific IgE in their blood. Contrary to earlier patient surveys suggesting very high allergy rates, only 36% of ME/CFS patients had detectable allergic antibodies to common allergens like dust mites, pollen, and foods. This rate was similar to what researchers find in the general healthy population, suggesting that allergies may not be uniquely associated with ME/CFS.

Immune System

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

The prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome in Iceland - a national comparison by gender drawing on four different criteria.

Líndal, Eiríkur, Stefánsson, Jón G, Bergmann, Sverrir·Nordic journal of psychiatry·2002

This study asked over 2,500 Icelanders about symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) to find out how many people have it. Different diagnosis criteria gave very different results—ranging from 0% to 4.9%—showing that how doctors define CFS matters a lot. The study found that women made up most of the people with CFS, and there were some interesting differences between men and women in their symptoms.

Diagnostics

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

A tender sinus does not always mean rhinosinusitis.

Naranch, K, Park, Y-J, Repka-Ramirez, M S et al.·Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery·2002

This study measured how sensitive people's sinuses and skin are to pressure pain across different groups: healthy people, those with sinus infections or allergies, and people with ME/CFS. The researchers found that people with ME/CFS had much more sensitive sinuses and skin overall compared to healthy people, suggesting that ME/CFS causes widespread pain sensitivity rather than actual sinus infection.

Pain and Sensitization

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredObservational

Chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome: a co-twin control study of functional status.

Herrell, Richard, Goldberg, Jack, Hartman, Suzanne et al.·Quality of life research : an international journal of quality of life aspects of treatment, care and rehabilitation·2002

This study compared twins where one had chronic fatigue or ME/CFS and the other did not. Researchers found that fatigued twins had significantly worse quality of life and daily functioning than their healthy siblings, particularly in physical activities. The more severe the fatigue definition used, the greater the functional impairment observed.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Autonomic instability, as measured by pupillary unrest, is not associated with multiple sclerosis fatigue severity.

Egg, R, Högl, B, Glatzl, S et al.·Multiple sclerosis (Houndmills, Basingstoke, England)·2002

This study looked at whether problems with the nervous system's ability to regulate automatic body functions (like pupil responses) might explain fatigue in multiple sclerosis patients. Researchers measured pupil movements in MS patients and healthy volunteers, then compared these measurements to fatigue severity scores. Surprisingly, they found the opposite of what they expected: people with more pupil instability actually reported less fatigue, not more.

Autonomic Nervous System

E2 ModerateCohortPEM unclearCross-Sectional

Antinuclear autoantibodies (ANA) in Gulf War-related illness and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients.

Skowera, A, Stewart, E, Davis, E T et al.·Clinical and experimental immunology·2002

This study looked for a specific type of immune protein called antinuclear autoantibodies (ANAs) in people with ME/CFS and Gulf War veterans with multiple symptoms. Researchers compared blood samples from ME/CFS patients, symptomatic Gulf War veterans, and healthy controls. They found no significant differences in ANA levels between any of the groups, and none of the patients had the specific nuclear envelope ANA type that had been suggested as a possible ME/CFS marker.

Immune System

E2 ModerateDiagnosticPEM not requiredMethods-Paper

Validation of a telephone cognitive assessment test battery for use in chronic fatigue syndrome.

McCue, P, Scholey, A B, Herman, C et al.·Journal of telemedicine and telecare·2002

This study tested whether a telephone-based brain function test could accurately detect thinking problems in people with ME/CFS. Researchers compared two versions of the same test—one on a computer and one done by telephone—in 30 people with ME/CFS and 30 healthy people. Both versions showed that people with ME/CFS were significantly slower at thinking tasks involving attention, memory, and focus, confirming that cognitive problems are real and measurable in this illness.

Cognitive Impairment

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Cytokines in nasal lavage fluids from acute sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, and chronic fatigue syndrome subjects.

Repka-Ramirez, Susana, Naranch, Kristina, Park, Yong-Jin et al.·Allergy and asthma proceedings·2002

Researchers measured inflammation markers in nasal fluid samples from people with ME/CFS, allergic rhinitis, acute sinusitis, and healthy controls. They found that people with acute sinusitis had significantly higher levels of inflammatory substances, but people with ME/CFS did not show elevated inflammation in their nasal passages compared to healthy controls.

Immune System

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences and circulating cell-free DNA from plasma of chronic fatigue syndrome and non-fatigued subjects.

Vernon, Suzanne D, Shukla, Sanjay K, Conradt, Jennifer et al.·BMC microbiology·2002

Researchers tested whether bacteria in the bloodstream might be linked to ME/CFS by analyzing blood samples from people with ME/CFS and healthy controls. They found that healthy people had more detectable bacterial DNA in their blood than ME/CFS patients did, and no unique or unusual bacteria were found in either group. This suggests that a specific bacterial infection is unlikely to be a primary cause of ME/CFS.

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredObservational

Radiophobia: long-term psychological consequences of Chernobyl.

Pastel, Ross H·Military medicine·2002

After the Chernobyl nuclear accident, many people experienced psychological distress and developed symptoms like extreme fatigue, sleep problems, mood changes, memory difficulties, and muscle or joint pain. These symptom patterns resembled chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. Importantly, these symptoms appeared in people across both highly and minimally contaminated areas and didn't increase with radiation exposure levels, suggesting psychological stress rather than radiation damage caused the illness.

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Self-management training for people with chronic disease: an exploratory study.

Complement activation in a model of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Fatigue, burnout, and chronic fatigue syndrome among employees on sick leave: do attributions make the difference?

Symptoms of rhinosinusitis in patients with unexplained chronic fatigue or bodily pain: a pilot study.

Effects of posttraumatic stress disorder on cardiovascular stress responses in Gulf War veterans with fatiguing illness.

Aerobic capacity of Gulf War veterans with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Distinguishing patients with chronic fatigue from those with chronic fatigue syndrome: a diagnostic study in UK primary care.

Life events, difficulties and dilemmas in the onset of chronic fatigue syndrome: a case-control study.

Diagnosing chronic fatigue syndrome: comparison of a protocol and computerised questionnaires.

The Mid-Atlantic Twin Registry.

Prevalence of allergen-specific IgE among patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

The prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome in Iceland - a national comparison by gender drawing on four different criteria.

A tender sinus does not always mean rhinosinusitis.

Chronic fatigue and chronic fatigue syndrome: a co-twin control study of functional status.

Autonomic instability, as measured by pupillary unrest, is not associated with multiple sclerosis fatigue severity.

Antinuclear autoantibodies (ANA) in Gulf War-related illness and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients.

Validation of a telephone cognitive assessment test battery for use in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Cytokines in nasal lavage fluids from acute sinusitis, allergic rhinitis, and chronic fatigue syndrome subjects.

Analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequences and circulating cell-free DNA from plasma of chronic fatigue syndrome and non-fatigued subjects.

Radiophobia: long-term psychological consequences of Chernobyl.

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