ME/CFS Evidence Browser — Classified Studies on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

2921–2940 of 6,160 studies

E2 ModerateCohortPEM unclearCross-Sectional

An empirical delineation of the heterogeneity of chronic unexplained fatigue in women.

Vollmer-Conna, Uté, Aslakson, Eric, White, Peter D·Pharmacogenomics·2006

This study looked at 159 women to understand why chronic fatigue affects people differently. Researchers used statistical analysis to group the women into distinct clusters based on their symptoms, sleep patterns, hormone levels, and stress responses. They found that chronic fatigue is not one single condition, but rather several different conditions with different underlying causes—some linked to sleep problems, others to depression, obesity, or hormonal changes.

Sleep

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCase-Control

Urinary cortisol and cortisol metabolite excretion in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Jerjes, Walid K, Taylor, Norman F, Peters, Timothy J et al.·Psychosomatic medicine·2006

This study measured stress hormone levels in urine from people with ME/CFS and healthy controls to see if ME/CFS patients produce less cortisol (a hormone made during stress). The researchers found no major difference in total cortisol output between the two groups when measuring both cortisol and its breakdown products, though free cortisol levels were slightly lower in patients and related to fatigue severity.

Endocrine Disruption

E2 ModerateGuidelinePEM unclearGuideline

Management of patients presenting with Sjogren's syndrome.

Venables, P J·Best practice & research. Clinical rheumatology·2006

Sjögren's syndrome is an autoimmune disease where the body attacks its own glands that produce tears and saliva, causing dry eyes and mouth. This article explains how doctors diagnose and treat Sjögren's syndrome, emphasizing that most patients do well with local treatments (like eye drops) and a medication called hydroxychloroquine, while stronger drugs are reserved for patients with more serious complications.

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Screening for psychological distress using internet administration of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome.

McCue, Patricia, Buchanan, Tom, Martin, Colin R·The British journal of clinical psychology·2006

This study tested whether an online questionnaire called the HADS (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale) accurately measures anxiety and depression in people with ME/CFS. Researchers found that people with ME/CFS did have higher anxiety and depression scores than healthy controls, but the online format may have artificially inflated these scores. The questionnaire appears useful for screening but measures three different aspects of emotional distress rather than just two as previously thought.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome have reduced absolute cortical blood flow.

Yoshiuchi, Kazuhiro, Farkas, Jeffrey, Natelson, Benjamin H·Clinical physiology and functional imaging·2006

This study used advanced brain imaging to measure blood flow in the brains of 25 ME/CFS patients and 7 healthy people. Researchers found that ME/CFS patients had less blood flowing to parts of their brain compared to healthy controls, especially those without concurrent psychiatric conditions. This reduced blood flow might help explain some of the cognitive and physical symptoms ME/CFS patients experience.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

The management of children with chronic fatigue syndrome-like illness in primary care: a cross-sectional study.

Saidi, Guitta, Haines, Linda·The British journal of general practice : the journal of the Royal College of General Practitioners·2006

This study looked at how family doctors (GPs) in the UK identify and care for children and teenagers with ME/CFS-like illness in their regular clinics. Researchers reviewed medical records and patient experiences from 116 young people with severe fatigue lasting over 3 months. Most were girls around age 13, and their illness had lasted several years. The study found that GPs diagnosed about half of them with CFS/ME, often within 6 months, and referred most patients to specialists or suggested strategies like pacing and graded exercise.

Diagnostics

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Differential diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome and major depressive disorder.

Hawk, Caroline, Jason, Leonard A, Torres-Harding, Susan·International journal of behavioral medicine·2006

This study compared people with ME/CFS, people with depression, and healthy controls to find which symptoms best tell these conditions apart. Researchers found that post-exertional malaise (worsening after activity), unrefreshing sleep, and memory problems were the strongest differences. When they used a combination of symptoms including fatigue duration and severity of various symptoms, they could correctly identify which group each person belonged to nearly 100% of the time.

Post-Exertional Malaise

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCase-Control

Premorbid predictors of chronic fatigue.

Kato, Kenji, Sullivan, Patrick F, Evengård, Birgitta et al.·Archives of general psychiatry·2006

This study looked at whether stress and personality traits before someone got sick could predict who would develop chronic fatigue later. Researchers followed nearly 20,000 Swedish twins for 25+ years, measuring their stress levels and personalities in the 1970s, then checking in the late 1990s to see who had developed chronic fatigue-like illness. They found that people who reported higher stress before getting sick were significantly more likely to develop chronic fatigue, though genetic factors played an important role in this relationship.

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredObservational

Linkages between goal attainment and quality of life for individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Query, Michelle, Taylor, Renée R·Occupational therapy in health care·2006

This study looked at whether setting and achieving personal goals could improve quality of life for people with ME/CFS. Forty-seven participants attended eight group sessions where they set goals and tracked their progress. The researchers found that people who made progress toward their goals reported better quality of life, regardless of how severe their fatigue or other symptoms were.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Linear data mining the Wichita clinical matrix suggests sleep and allostatic load involvement in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Gurbaxani, Brian M, Jones, James F, Goertzel, Benjamin N et al.·Pharmacogenomics·2006

Researchers analyzed clinical data from 164 ME/CFS patients and controls to identify patterns that distinguish the condition from health. Using mathematical techniques to find which body measurements best separated the two groups, they found that sleep problems and markers of physical stress (allostatic load) were important—though no single measurement was strongly predictive on its own. The study suggests that ME/CFS may involve multiple interconnected biological changes rather than one simple cause.

Sleep

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCase-Control

Probing the working memory system in chronic fatigue syndrome: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study using the n-back task.

Caseras, Xavier, Mataix-Cols, David, Giampietro, Vincent et al.·Psychosomatic medicine·2006

Researchers used brain imaging to study how people with ME/CFS perform memory tasks. Although patients and healthy people did equally well on the tasks, their brains used different patterns of activity—patients showed unusual activation in certain brain regions during easier tasks and reduced activity in key memory areas during harder tasks. This suggests that people with ME/CFS may need to work harder mentally to achieve the same results.

Cognitive Impairment

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredLongitudinal

Mortality in a cohort of chronically fatigued patients.

Smith, Wayne R, Noonan, Carolyn, Buchwald, Dedra·Psychological medicine·2006

Researchers tracked 1,201 patients with chronic fatigue for up to 14 years to see if the condition was linked to higher death rates. They found that overall death rates were normal, but suicide rates were much higher than expected in the general population—especially among patients with chronic fatigue who did NOT meet the full criteria for ME/CFS, and particularly those with a history of depression.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCase-Control

Chronic fatigue syndrome and high allostatic load.

Maloney, Elizabeth M, Gurbaxani, Brian M, Jones, James F et al.·Pharmacogenomics·2006

This study looked at whether people with ME/CFS have higher "allostatic load"—a measure of how much physical stress the body is under based on things like blood pressure, cortisol levels, and waist-to-hip ratio. Researchers compared 43 ME/CFS patients to 60 healthy people and found that ME/CFS patients were about twice as likely to have high allostatic load. This suggests that ME/CFS may involve ongoing physical stress on the body's systems.

Endocrine Disruption

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Evaluation of maximal exercise performance, fatigue, and depression in athletes with acquired chronic training intolerance.

St Clair Gibson, A, Grobler, L A, Collins, M et al.·Clinical journal of sport medicine : official journal of the Canadian Academy of Sport Medicine·2006

This study looked at athletes who reported unusual tiredness and couldn't train like they normally could, even though their bodies seemed to work normally during fitness tests. Researchers found that these athletes' muscles and heart/lung capacity were just as strong as athletes without fatigue problems, but they had higher scores for depression and mood problems. The study suggests that the excessive tiredness these athletes felt might be connected to depression rather than a physical problem with their muscles or fitness.

Post-Exertional Malaise

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCase-Control

Chronic widespread pain and its comorbidities: a population-based study.

Kato, Kenji, Sullivan, Patrick F, Evengård, Birgitta et al.·Archives of internal medicine·2006

This large study of over 44,000 Swedish adults found that chronic widespread pain (a hallmark of fibromyalgia) occurs together with ME/CFS, joint pain, depression, and irritable bowel syndrome much more often than by chance alone. Interestingly, when researchers compared twins, they discovered that shared family genes and home environment—not just the pain condition itself—explained much of why these conditions cluster together.

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCase-Control

A case-control study of risk factors for arm pain presenting to primary care services.

Ryall, Claire, Coggon, David, Peveler, Robert et al.·Occupational medicine (Oxford, England)·2006

This study looked at why some people develop arm pain and sought medical help for it. Researchers compared 132 people with arm pain to 127 people without arm pain and found that anxiety, depression, health worry, and having other conditions like chronic fatigue syndrome were all strongly linked to arm pain. Some physical activities like repetitive wrist movements and carrying heavy items were also associated with arm pain, especially when there was a specific diagnosis.

Pain and Sensitization

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredLongitudinal

How relevant are exercise capacity measures for evaluating treatment effects in chronic fatigue syndrome? Results from a prospective, multidisciplinary outcome study.

Pardaens, K, Haagdorens, L, Van Wambeke, P et al.·Clinical rehabilitation·2006

This study tested whether a 6-month rehabilitation program combining cognitive therapy and graded exercise improved ME/CFS patients' quality of life and physical fitness. Patients reported significant improvements in how they felt and functioned in daily life, but their measured physical capacity (like strength and endurance on a bike test) only improved modestly. Importantly, feeling better didn't require becoming noticeably fitter—especially for patients who started out less fit.

Interventions

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredLongitudinal

Long-term predictors of outcome in fatigued employees on sick leave: a 4-year follow-up study.

Leone, Stephanie S, Huibers, Marcus J H, Kant, Ijmert et al.·Psychological medicine·2006

This study followed 127 people who were on sick leave due to fatigue for 4 years to see who would recover and return to work. After 4 years, about one-quarter of the participants were still unable to work due to disability. The study found that people with lower physical functioning at the start were more likely to remain disabled and continue experiencing fatigue.

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Medically evaluated psychological and physical health of Australian Gulf War veterans with chronic fatigue.

Kelsall, Helen, Sim, Malcolm, McKenzie, Dean et al.·Journal of psychosomatic research·2006

This study compared fatigue and health problems in Australian military veterans who served in the Gulf War with similar military personnel who did not deploy there. Researchers found that Gulf War veterans reported more fatigue at all severity levels than the comparison group. Importantly, unexplained chronic fatigue (similar to ME/CFS) was more common in veterans, though true ME/CFS remained rare in both groups, at levels similar to the general population.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredObservational

The incidence of fibromyalgia and its associated comorbidities: a population-based retrospective cohort study based on International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision codes.

Weir, Peter T, Harlan, Gregory A, Nkoy, Flo L et al.·Journal of clinical rheumatology : practical reports on rheumatic & musculoskeletal diseases·2006

This study looked at how often fibromyalgia is diagnosed in a large group of insured people over a 6-year period. The researchers found that fibromyalgia is diagnosed more often in women than men, though not as dramatically as previous studies suggested. People with fibromyalgia were much more likely to also have other conditions like depression, anxiety, headaches, irritable bowel syndrome, chronic fatigue syndrome, lupus, and rheumatoid arthritis.

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An empirical delineation of the heterogeneity of chronic unexplained fatigue in women.

Urinary cortisol and cortisol metabolite excretion in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Management of patients presenting with Sjogren's syndrome.

Screening for psychological distress using internet administration of the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) in individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome have reduced absolute cortical blood flow.

The management of children with chronic fatigue syndrome-like illness in primary care: a cross-sectional study.

Differential diagnosis of chronic fatigue syndrome and major depressive disorder.

Premorbid predictors of chronic fatigue.

Linkages between goal attainment and quality of life for individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Linear data mining the Wichita clinical matrix suggests sleep and allostatic load involvement in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Probing the working memory system in chronic fatigue syndrome: a functional magnetic resonance imaging study using the n-back task.

Mortality in a cohort of chronically fatigued patients.

Chronic fatigue syndrome and high allostatic load.

Evaluation of maximal exercise performance, fatigue, and depression in athletes with acquired chronic training intolerance.

Chronic widespread pain and its comorbidities: a population-based study.

A case-control study of risk factors for arm pain presenting to primary care services.

How relevant are exercise capacity measures for evaluating treatment effects in chronic fatigue syndrome? Results from a prospective, multidisciplinary outcome study.

Long-term predictors of outcome in fatigued employees on sick leave: a 4-year follow-up study.

Medically evaluated psychological and physical health of Australian Gulf War veterans with chronic fatigue.

The incidence of fibromyalgia and its associated comorbidities: a population-based retrospective cohort study based on International Classification of Diseases, 9th Revision codes.

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