ME/CFS Evidence Browser — Classified Studies on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis

3641–3660 of 6,188 studies

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Immunologic abnormalities associated with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Barker, E, Fujimura, S F, Fadem, M B et al.·Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·1994

This study examined immune cells in the blood of ME/CFS patients and compared them to healthy people. Researchers found that ME/CFS patients had normal numbers of immune cells overall, but the cells showed signs of being overactive and tired. Most notably, patients had significantly reduced natural killer cell activity—these are immune cells that normally help fight infections and abnormal cells.

Immune System

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

[Chronic fatigue syndrome: immune dysfunction, role of pathogens and toxic agents and neurological and cardial changes].

Hilgers, A, Frank, J·Wiener medizinische Wochenschrift (1946)·1994

This study examined 375 patients with ME/CFS to understand what goes wrong with their immune systems and which infections might be involved. Researchers found that most patients had problems with immune cell function, signs of past viral infections (especially Epstein-Barr virus), and imbalances in immune chemicals. The study suggests ME/CFS may be connected to autoimmune problems and multiple infections.

Immune System

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Dimensional assessment of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Vercoulen, J H, Swanink, C M, Fennis, J F et al.·Journal of psychosomatic research·1994

This study asked 298 people with ME/CFS to fill out detailed questionnaires about how the illness affected them. Researchers found that ME/CFS affects people in nine different ways: mood and emotional health, ability to do daily activities, sleep quality, physical avoidance, thinking and memory problems, beliefs about what caused their illness, relationships and social life, confidence in their own abilities, and overall life satisfaction. Understanding these separate aspects could help doctors better assess and treat ME/CFS in individual patients.

SleepCognitive Impairment

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

High titers of anti-Epstein-Barr virus DNA polymerase are found in patients with severe fatiguing illness.

Natelson, B H, Ye, N, Moul, D E et al.·Journal of medical virology·1994

This study looked for specific antibodies (proteins the immune system makes) against Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) in people with ME/CFS compared to healthy people. Researchers found that abnormal levels of these antibodies were twice as common in ME/CFS patients, and the effect was even stronger in sicker patients. This suggests these antibodies might help doctors identify which ME/CFS patients have more severe illness.

Immune System

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredLongitudinal

Chronic fatigue syndrome: a follow up study.

Bonner, D, Ron, M, Chalder, T et al.·Journal of neurology, neurosurgery, and psychiatry·1994

Researchers followed up with 46 ME/CFS patients four years after their initial diagnosis to see how they were doing. Patients who had improved with treatment generally stayed better, while those who didn't benefit from treatment were unlikely to recover on their own. Patients who still had ME/CFS symptoms four years later tended to have had more physical health problems, greater fatigue levels, and a history of mental health conditions when first diagnosed.

Interventions

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Seasonal symptom variation in patients with chronic fatigue: comparison with major mood disorders.

Zubieta, J K, Engleberg, N C, Yargiç, L I et al.·Journal of psychiatric research·1994

This study compared how much ME/CFS and chronic fatigue symptoms vary by season in different groups of patients. The researchers found that people with ME/CFS and chronic fatigue had much less seasonal symptom variation than people with seasonal depression or other mood disorders. Even when fatigue patients did experience some seasonal changes, they didn't find it particularly distressing.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

A comparison of case definitions of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Bates, D W, Buchwald, D, Lee, J et al.·Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·1994

This study tested whether three different sets of diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS identified the same patients. Researchers looked at 805 patients at two clinics and found that about 55-61% met each of the three definitions, though different patients sometimes qualified under different criteria. The study suggests that using broader, more flexible definitions might better capture people with ME/CFS.

Diagnostics

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Chronic fatigue syndrome--a controlled cross sectional study.

Rasmussen, A K, Nielsen, H, Andersen, V et al.·The Journal of rheumatology·1994

Researchers compared immune system markers in 21 people with ME/CFS to 21 healthy controls to see if immune problems might cause the illness. They found that people with ME/CFS produced higher levels of certain immune signaling molecules and had slightly different antibody patterns, but overall immune system differences between the groups were small. The study suggests the immune system may be out of balance in ME/CFS, but doesn't prove this imbalance actually causes the disease.

Immune System

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredObservational

Concurrent sick building syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome: epidemic neuromyasthenia revisited.

Chester, A C, Levine, P H·Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·1994

This study looked at three groups of people in different buildings who reported feeling sick, and found that some developed symptoms beyond what's typically expected from poor indoor air quality. While many had the usual complaints like respiratory irritation and headaches from their building environments, others developed more serious symptoms like extreme fatigue and neurological problems that match ME/CFS. The researchers concluded that ME/CFS may often occur alongside or be connected to sick building syndrome.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome in Italian patients with persistent fatigue.

Conti, F, Priori, R, De Petrillo, G et al.·Annali italiani di medicina interna : organo ufficiale della Societa italiana di medicina interna·1994

Researchers in Rome studied 63 patients with persistent fatigue lasting at least 6 months to see how many actually had ME/CFS. They found that only 6 patients (about 10%) met the official diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS, while 37 patients (59%) had other medical conditions explaining their fatigue, such as infections or other illnesses. This suggests that ME/CFS is relatively uncommon as a cause of severe fatigue compared to other treatable conditions.

Diagnostics

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCase-Control

Studies on enterovirus in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Gow, J W, Behan, W M, Simpson, K et al.·Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·1994

Researchers tested muscle tissue from 121 ME/CFS patients and 101 people with other muscle disorders to look for enterovirus (a common virus). They found the virus in about 26% of ME/CFS patients and 20% of the comparison group—a difference too small to be meaningful. This contradicts their earlier, smaller study which had found much higher rates in ME/CFS patients, suggesting enterovirus may not be a major ongoing cause of the illness.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Hyperventilation and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Saisch, S G, Deale, A, Gardner, W N et al.·The Quarterly journal of medicine·1994

Researchers tested whether people with ME/CFS tend to overbreathe (hyperventilate), which could contribute to their fatigue. They measured breathing patterns in 31 patients at rest, during exercise, and after voluntary heavy breathing. Most patients did not show signs of hyperventilation, and those who did usually had other explanations like asthma or panic disorder.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

SPECT imaging of the brain: comparison of findings in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, AIDS dementia complex, and major unipolar depression.

Schwartz, R B, Komaroff, A L, Garada, B M et al.·AJR. American journal of roentgenology·1994

Researchers used a type of brain imaging called SPECT scans to compare brain blood flow patterns in people with ME/CFS, AIDS-related dementia, depression, and healthy people. People with ME/CFS and AIDS dementia showed similar patterns of reduced blood flow in certain brain areas, while people with depression showed different patterns. These findings suggest ME/CFS may involve brain inflammation similar to a chronic viral infection rather than being purely psychological.

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

[Chronic fatigue syndrome--a controlled cross-sectional study].

Rasmussen, A K, Nielsen, H, Andersen, V et al.·Ugeskrift for laeger·1994

This study compared immune system markers in 21 people with ME/CFS to 21 healthy people matched by age and sex. Researchers found that certain immune cells in ME/CFS patients produced higher levels of specific immune signaling molecules, while antibody levels were slightly lower than normal. Overall, the study did not find clear evidence that ME/CFS is caused by a persistent viral infection or a severely damaged immune system.

Immune System

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredObservational

Epstein-Barr virus infection in Desert Storm reservists.

Carver, L A, Connallon, P F, Flanigan, S J et al.·Military medicine·1994

This study looked at U.S. Army reservists who developed ME/CFS-like symptoms after returning from the Gulf War. Researchers tested 37 of these service members for Epstein-Barr virus (a common virus that can reactivate in the body) and found that 73% had signs of either a new or reactivated infection. This suggests that viral infections might be making ME/CFS symptoms worse or last longer in some people.

Immune System

E2 ModerateCohortPEM unclearCross-Sectional

Gender differences in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Buchwald, D, Pearlman, T, Kith, P et al.·Journal of general internal medicine·1994

This study looked at whether ME/CFS affects men and women differently by comparing 348 patients seen at a specialized clinic. While women more often had swollen lymph nodes and fibromyalgia alongside ME/CFS, and men more often had sore throats, the researchers found that overall, men and women with ME/CFS are quite similar in most ways, including their symptoms, psychological well-being, and how the illness affects their daily functioning.

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Psychosocial correlates of illness burden in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Antoni, M H, Brickman, A, Lutgendorf, S et al.·Clinical infectious diseases : an official publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·1994

This study looked at how thoughts, feelings, and coping strategies affect how sick ME/CFS patients feel and function day-to-day. Researchers found that negative thinking patterns and avoidance-based coping (like denial) were linked to worse symptoms and lower quality of life, while active problem-solving strategies did not improve outcomes. These relationships held true whether or not patients also had depression.

Cognitive Impairment

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Alpha-delta sleep in patients with a chief complaint of chronic fatigue.

Manu, P, Lane, T J, Matthews, D A et al.·Southern medical journal·1994

This study looked at sleep patterns in 30 patients with chronic fatigue to understand what might be causing their exhaustion. Researchers found that a specific type of abnormal sleep pattern called 'alpha-delta sleep' appeared in about 26% of patients, but it was not clearly linked to ME/CFS or fibromyalgia. The study also found that one-third of the patients had other primary sleep disorders like sleep apnea that may have been contributing to their fatigue.

Sleep

E2 ModerateBehavioralPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

Psychobehavioral and immunological characteristics of adult people with chronic fatigue and patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Masuda, A, Nozoe, S I, Matsuyama, T et al.·Psychosomatic medicine·1994

This study compared immune system function and psychological stress levels in three groups: healthy people, those with chronic fatigue (but not ME/CFS), and patients with ME/CFS. All three groups showed differences in how stressed they felt, their activity levels, and how well their immune cells (specifically natural killer cells) worked. Importantly, the chronic fatigue group fell somewhere between healthy people and ME/CFS patients in terms of both psychological stress and immune function.

Immune System

E2 ModerateCohortPEM not requiredCross-Sectional

A potential role for human herpesvirus type 6 in nervous system disease.

Wilborn, F, Schmidt, C A, Brinkmann, V et al.·Journal of neuroimmunology·1994

This study looked for evidence that human herpesvirus type 6 (HHV-6), a common virus, might be involved in nervous system diseases including ME/CFS. Researchers tested blood and spinal fluid samples from patients with different neurological conditions and compared them to healthy controls. They found that a small number of multiple sclerosis patients had HHV-6 DNA in their spinal fluid, and MS patients had higher antibodies to HHV-6 in their blood, suggesting the virus may play a role in that disease.

Immune System

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Evidence browser

Immunologic abnormalities associated with chronic fatigue syndrome.

[Chronic fatigue syndrome: immune dysfunction, role of pathogens and toxic agents and neurological and cardial changes].

Dimensional assessment of chronic fatigue syndrome.

High titers of anti-Epstein-Barr virus DNA polymerase are found in patients with severe fatiguing illness.

Chronic fatigue syndrome: a follow up study.

Seasonal symptom variation in patients with chronic fatigue: comparison with major mood disorders.

A comparison of case definitions of chronic fatigue syndrome.

Chronic fatigue syndrome--a controlled cross sectional study.

Concurrent sick building syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome: epidemic neuromyasthenia revisited.

Prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome in Italian patients with persistent fatigue.

Studies on enterovirus in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Hyperventilation and chronic fatigue syndrome.

SPECT imaging of the brain: comparison of findings in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, AIDS dementia complex, and major unipolar depression.

[Chronic fatigue syndrome--a controlled cross-sectional study].

Epstein-Barr virus infection in Desert Storm reservists.

Gender differences in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

Psychosocial correlates of illness burden in chronic fatigue syndrome.

Alpha-delta sleep in patients with a chief complaint of chronic fatigue.

Psychobehavioral and immunological characteristics of adult people with chronic fatigue and patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.

A potential role for human herpesvirus type 6 in nervous system disease.

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