Evidence browser

E2 ModerateCohortPEM unclearCross-Sectional

Chronic fatigue syndrome: successful outcome of an intensive inpatient programme.

Lim, A, Lubitz, L·Journal of paediatrics and child health·2002

This study looked at teenagers with ME/CFS who participated in an intensive inpatient rehabilitation program at an Australian hospital. Most participants improved significantly, with the majority returning to full-time or nearly full-time school and increasing their physical activity and social involvement. These improvements lasted for up to 5 years after the program ended.

Latent class analysis of symptoms associated with chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia.

Sullivan, P F, Smith, W, Buchwald, D·Psychological medicine·2002

Researchers studied 646 patients with ME/CFS and/or fibromyalgia to see if these are truly separate conditions or if they overlap significantly. Using statistical analysis of 32 common symptoms, they found that patients fell into four groups that differed in severity rather than type—suggesting these conditions are more similar to each other than previously thought. This challenges the traditional belief that ME/CFS and fibromyalgia are distinct disorders.

Diagnostics

IgM serum antibodies to human cytomegalovirus nonstructural gene products p52 and CM2(UL44 and UL57) are uniquely present in a subset of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Lerner, A Martin, Beqaj, Safedin H, Deeter, Robert G et al.·In vivo (Athens, Greece)·2002

Researchers tested blood samples from ME/CFS patients and healthy controls for specific antibodies to cytomegalovirus (CMV), a common virus. They found that 16 ME/CFS patients had unique antibodies to two CMV proteins (p52 and CM2) that were not found in 77 control subjects, including other ME/CFS patients and healthy people. This suggests these antibodies might be a specific marker for a subset of ME/CFS patients and could indicate an ongoing or incomplete CMV infection in this group.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredLongitudinal

Long-term follow-up of patients from the 1989 Q fever outbreak: no evidence of excess cardiac disease in those with fatigue.

Ayres, J G, Wildman, M, Groves, J et al.·QJM : monthly journal of the Association of Physicians·2002

This study followed people who had Q fever (a bacterial infection) during an outbreak in 1989 to see if persistent fatigue afterward was caused by heart damage. Researchers tested their hearts using ECGs, ultrasounds, and exercise tests over many years. They found that people with ongoing fatigue after Q fever did not have hidden heart problems, though a few people did develop serious heart infections from the original infection.

Chronic fatigue in a population-based study of Gulf War veterans.

McCauley, Linda A, Joos, Sandra K, Barkhuizen, Andre et al.·Archives of environmental health·2002

Researchers studied Gulf War veterans to see how many had chronic fatigue that couldn't be explained by standard medical tests. They found that about 2.2% of veterans met the official criteria for ME/CFS, and another 5.1% had unexplained fatigue. Women veterans were more likely to have these conditions than men. Unlike some other ME/CFS patients, most of these veterans developed their fatigue gradually rather than suddenly.

Diagnostics

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

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.

The relations among body consciousness, somatic symptom report, and information processing speed in chronic fatigue syndrome.

van der Werf, Sieberen P, de Vree, Berna, van Der Meer, Jos W M et al.·Neuropsychiatry, neuropsychology, and behavioral neurology·2002

This study looked at whether paying too much attention to bodily sensations and reporting many physical symptoms might slow down how quickly people with ME/CFS can process information and react to tasks. Researchers measured how fast patients could respond to simple tests and found that people who were highly aware of their body sensations reported more symptoms and performed more slowly on reaction time tests. The study suggests that increased attention to the body may be partly responsible for the cognitive slowing that people with ME/CFS experience.

Cognitive Impairment

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

[Asthenia in adolescents].

De Sanctis, V, Mangiagli, A, Campisi, S et al.·Minerva pediatrica·2002

This study looked at how common fatigue is among Italian teenagers aged 12-15 by surveying students in schools. Researchers found that about 70% of adolescents reported experiencing fatigue. The study explains that while fatigue after infections is common, severe or long-lasting fatigue in teenagers should be evaluated by doctors to find out if there's an underlying cause, and it briefly describes chronic fatigue syndrome using standard diagnostic criteria.

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Perception of cognitive performance in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Metzger, Fredric A, Denney, Douglas R·Annals of behavioral medicine : a publication of the Society of Behavioral Medicine·2002

This study looked at how accurately people with ME/CFS judge their own mental performance. When patients with ME/CFS completed a challenging thinking task, they consistently thought they did worse than they actually did, even though their actual performance matched healthy people's performance. This gap between what they thought they could do and what they actually accomplished was linked to how mentally tired and fatigued the task made them feel.

Cognitive Impairment

The prognosis after multidisciplinary treatment for patients with postinfectious chronic fatigue syndrome and noninfectious chronic fatigue syndrome.

Masuda, Akinori, Nakayama, Takashi, Yamanaka, Takao et al.·Journal of behavioral medicine·2002

This study compared two types of ME/CFS patients: those whose illness started after an infection and those whose didn't. After multidisciplinary treatment, patients who developed ME/CFS after infection showed better improvement in symptoms and were more likely to return to work. Importantly, a marker of immune function called NK cell activity also showed more improvement in the post-infectious group, suggesting their bodies may respond differently to treatment.

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Underlying self-esteem in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Creswell, Cathy, Chalder, Trudie·Journal of psychosomatic research·2002

This study looked at whether people with ME/CFS have low self-esteem, using two different types of tests. When asked directly, people with ME/CFS reported lower self-esteem than healthy people and those with other chronic illnesses. However, a special test that measures unconscious reactions suggested their true underlying self-esteem was even lower than what they reported, possibly because they use mental defense mechanisms to protect themselves.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM requiredLongitudinal

Prognosis of chronic fatigue in a community-based sample.

Taylor, Renee R, Jason, Leonard A, Curie, Carrie J·Psychosomatic medicine·2002

Researchers followed up with people from a large community study to see which factors predict whether chronic fatigue gets better or worse over time. They found that how severe fatigue was at the start, and especially whether exercise made symptoms worse for 24 hours or more (a symptom called postexertional malaise), were the strongest predictors of whether someone would still have chronic fatigue years later.

Post-Exertional Malaise

Caring for a relative with chronic fatigue syndrome: difficulties, cognition and acceptance over time.

Ax, S, Gregg, V H, Jones, D·The journal of the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health·2002

This study spoke with 17 family members who care for people with ME/CFS to understand how the illness affects their lives. Surprisingly, many caregivers said their own daily lives weren't drastically changed, even though they all developed specific ways to cope and manage stress. Over time, caregivers learned to accept the illness, though this acceptance felt more like resignation than genuine understanding or appreciation of what the illness truly means.

Utility of the blood for gene expression profiling and biomarker discovery in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Vernon, Suzanne D, Unger, Elizabeth R, Dimulescu, Irina M et al.·Disease markers·2002

Researchers examined blood cells from people with ME/CFS and healthy volunteers to see if they could find differences in how genes are turned on or off. They found that blood cells from ME/CFS patients showed different gene activity patterns compared to healthy people, and some of these differences involved immune system genes. This suggests that ME/CFS involves problems with how the immune system is functioning.

BiomarkersImmune System

Cellular immunity in monozygotic twins discordant for chronic fatigue syndrome.

Sabath, Daniel E, Barcy, Serge, Koelle, David M et al.·The Journal of infectious diseases·2002

This study looked at immune system differences in identical twins where one twin had ME/CFS and the other didn't. By comparing identical twins, researchers could focus on immune changes related to the illness rather than genetic differences. The study found that certain immune cells were more variable in twins with ME/CFS, suggesting the immune system may be less stable in this condition.

E2 ModeratePEM unclearRegistry-Resource

The Swedish Twin Registry in the third millennium.

Pedersen, Nancy L, Lichtenstein, Paul, Svedberg, Pia·Twin research : the official journal of the International Society for Twin Studies·2002

The Swedish Twin Registry is a long-running database that tracks pairs of twins in Sweden to understand how genetics and environment affect disease. This paper describes the registry's history since the 1950s and mentions plans to study chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) along with other diseases by collecting blood samples and genetic information from twins.

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Cognitive functioning in chronic fatigue syndrome and the role of depression, anxiety, and fatigue.

Short, Keryn, McCabe, Marita, Tooley, Greg·Journal of psychosomatic research·2002

This study tested whether people with ME/CFS have actual problems with memory and thinking skills, or whether the difficulty they experience is mainly related to depression, anxiety, or fatigue. Researchers compared 23 people with ME/CFS to 23 healthy people using both objective tests (like memory tasks) and subjective reports (how people felt their thinking was affected). The findings showed that on actual cognitive tests, people with ME/CFS performed just as well as healthy controls, though they reported feeling that their thinking was worse.

Cognitive Impairment

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredObservational

A six-month trial of valacyclovir in the Epstein-Barr virus subset of chronic fatigue syndrome: improvement in left ventricular function.

Lerner, A Martin, Beqaj, Safedin H, Deeter, Robert G et al.·Drugs of today (Barcelona, Spain : 1998)·2002

This small study tested whether an antiviral medication called valacyclovir could help ME/CFS patients who had persistent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) infection. Researchers gave 25 patients valacyclovir for 6 months and found that those with only EBV infection showed improvement in heart function and energy levels, but those with both EBV and cytomegalovirus infections did not improve.

E2 ModerateReviewPEM not requiredReview-Narrative

Influenza vaccination: is it appropriate in chronic fatigue syndrome?

Sleigh, Kenna M, Marra, Fawziah H, Stiver, H Grant·American journal of respiratory medicine : drugs, devices, and other interventions·2002

This study looked at whether people with ME/CFS should get the flu vaccine, since many patients worry it might worsen their symptoms or harm their already-altered immune system. Researchers reviewed patient concerns and clinical trial data and found that flu vaccination actually produces protective antibodies in ME/CFS patients without making their symptoms worse, though some patients reported more side effects after the shot (which turned out to overlap with ME/CFS symptoms they already had).