Tag: 2015

Psychogenic Explanations of Physical Illness: Time to Examine the Evidence

Abstract:

In some patients with chronic physical complaints, detailed examination fails to reveal a well-recognized underlying disease process. In this situation, the physician may suspect a psychological cause. In this review, we critically evaluated the evidence for this causal claim, focusing on complaints presenting as neurological disorders.

There were four main conclusions. First, patients with these complaints frequently exhibit psychopathology but not consistently more often than patients with a comparable “organic” diagnosis, so a causal role cannot be inferred.

Second, these patients report a high incidence of adverse life experiences, but again, there is insufficient evidence to indicate a causal role for any particular type of experience.

Third, although psychogenic illnesses are believed to be more responsive to psychological interventions than comparable “organic” illnesses, there is currently no evidence to support this claim.

Finally, recent evidence suggests that biological and physical factors play a much greater causal role in these illnesses than previously believed. We conclude that there is currently little evidential support for psychogenic theories of illness in the neurological domain. In future research, researchers need to take a wider view concerning the etiology of these illnesses.

Source: Carolyn E. Wilshire and Tony Ward. Psychogenic Explanations of Physical Illness: Time to Examine the Evidence. Perspectives on Psychological Science 2016, Vol. 11(5) 606–631. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/283476227_Psychogenic_explanations_of_physical_illness_Time_to_examine_the_evidence (Full text)

The Role of Cytokines in Muscle Fatigue in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)

Abstract:

CFS is characterized by profound levels of persistent/recurrent fatigue. It is proposed that chronic, low level inflammation may play a role in this fatigue. We recruited 100 untreated patients with CFS (average age 33±12) and 100 age and sex matched healthy controls (HCs). Serum levels of TNF-α were assessed using ELISA. Subjective fatigue was determined by questionnaire and muscle function tests were undertaken in subgroups in which maximal voluntary contraction (MVC), electrically stimulated muscle force generation and rate of fatigue were assessed in the quadriceps muscle.

Subjective fatigue was higher in patients with CFS compared with HCs. Preliminary analyses showed that serum TNF-α was undetectable in 97% of HCs, whereas 15% of patients with CFS had detectable (4.4+/-0.18pg/ml) serum TNF-α. MVC was significantly reduced in subjects with CFS compared with HCs. No difference was seen in stimulated muscle fatigue between groups.

This preliminary data suggests that a sub-group of patients with CFS may have low level inflammation and analyses are underway to further characterise other inflammatory markers in serum and muscle of these patients and to determine whether such changes could affect indices of muscle function or central fatigue.

Funded by MRC, BBSRC and the ME Association.

Source: Earl, K., Sakellariou, G., Owens, D., Sinclair, M., Fenech, M., Close, G., Lawton, C., Dye, L., Beadsworth, M. and McArdle, A. (2015), The Role of Cytokines in Muscle Fatigue in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). The FASEB Journal, 29: 1055.34. https://doi.org/10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.1055.34  https://faseb.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1096/fasebj.29.1_supplement.1055.34 (Full text)

New light shed on cause of chronic fatigue syndrome

New research findings may shed new light on the potential cause of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME).

Researchers from Griffith University’s National Centre for Neuroimmunology and Emerging Diseases (NCNED) — part of the new Menzies Health Institute Queensland — have uncovered significant factors contributing to the pathology of this illness.

The results reveal genetic changes in important receptors associated with immunological and cellular function and contribute to the development of this complex illness.

“These findings have been achieved through a team effort involving researchers, patients, funding bodies, clinicians and the support of Griffith University and the Queensland Government,” say chief investigators Professor Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik and Professor Donald Staines.

Co-researcher and consultant immunologist Professor Pete Smith said that important signalling mechanisms are disrupted as a result of these genetic changes involving the detection and response to threats.

“These are primitive genes that are involved in many cellular signals in the brain, gut, cardiovascular and immune systems, as well as in the mediation of pain.”

These research findings coincide with International Neuroimmune Awareness week commencing Monday 11 May.

The Griffith Health Centre on the university’s Gold Coast campus is being lit up each evening from 10 -12 May to raise awareness of neurological conditions such as CFS/ME as well as other conditions such as Fibromyalgia and Gulf War Syndrome.

“The lighting up of the Griffith Health Centre signifies Griffith’s commitment to the CFS patient community and our team approach to this research,” says Pro-Vice Chancellor (Health) Professor Allan Cripps.

CFS/ME is a highly debilitating disorder characterized by profound fatigue, muscle and joint pain, cerebral symptoms of impaired memory and concentration, impaired cardiovascular function, gut disorder and sensory dysfunction such as noise intolerance and balance disturbance. Many cases can continue for months or years. It is believed to affect around 250,000 Australians.

The research findings are to be presented at an international conference in London later this month.

Journal Reference: Sonya Marshall-Gradisnik, Donald Staines, Pete Smith, Bernd Nilius, Ekua Brenu, Sandra Ramos. Examination of Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms (SNPs) in Transient Receptor Potential (TRP) Ion Channels in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients. Immunology and Immunogenetics Insights, 2015; 1 DOI: 10.4137/III.S25147

 

Source: Griffith University. “New light shed on cause of chronic fatigue syndrome.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 11 May 2015. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/05/150511172755.htm 

 

Why exercise magnifies exhaustion for chronic fatigue syndrome patients

The mechanism that causes high-performance athletes to “feel the burn” turns out to be the culprit in what makes people with chronic fatigue syndrome feel exhausted by the most common daily activities, new University of Florida Health research shows.

Published in the February issue of the journal Pain, the study shows that the neural pathways that transmit feelings of fatigue to the brain might be to blame. In those with chronic fatigue syndrome, the pathways do their job too well.

The findings also provide evidence for the first time that peripheral tissues such as muscles contribute to feelings of fatigue. Determining the origins of fatigue could help researchers develop therapies or identify targets for those therapies.

Researchers focused on the role of muscle metabolites, including lactic acid and adenosine triphosphate, or ATP, in the disease. The study has demonstrated for the first time that these substances, released when a person exercises his or her muscles, seem to activate these neural pathways. Also, UF Health researchers have shown that these pathways seem to be much more sensitive in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome than in patients without the disease, something that hasn’t been studied before.

Chronic fatigue syndrome, which the Institute of Medicine recently renamed systemic exertion intolerance disease, or SEID, is characterized by extreme chronic fatigue. Because its chief symptom — fatigue — is often associated with many other diseases, it can be difficult to diagnose SEID for the more than 1 million people who actually have the disease, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The disease has no root medical cause, and researchers don’t know what triggers it. But they are studying aspects of the disease to figure out ways to treat it.

“What we have shown now, that has never been shown before in humans, is that muscle metabolites can induce fatigue in healthy people as well as patients who already have fatigue,” said Dr. Roland Staud, a professor of rheumatology and clinical immunology in the UF College of Medicine and the paper’s lead author.

During exercise, muscles produce metabolites, which are sensed by metaboreceptors that transmit information via fatigue pathways to the brain, according to the researchers. But in patients with SEID, these fatigue pathways have become highly sensitive to metabolites and can trigger excessive feelings of fatigue.

“For most of us, at the end of strenuous exertion we feel exhausted and need to stop — but we will recover rapidly,” Staud said. “However, these individuals tire much more rapidly and sometimes just after moving across a room, they are fully exhausted. This takes a toll on their lives.”

Staud and co-author Michael E. Robinson, a professor in the department of clinical and health psychology in the UF College of Public Health and Health Professions, recruited a group of 39 patients with SEID and 29 participants without the disease. The researchers asked the participants to don a blood pressure cuff just above their elbows on their dominant side, pick up a spring-loaded device and squeeze it to 100 percent of their maximum capacity, which was measured by a dial.

With research assistants encouraging them, the study participants then squeezed the device so that the dial showed they were gripping at 50 percent of their maximum capacity for as long as they could.

At the end of the hand-grip exercise, the blood pressure cuff on the participant’s arm was inflated, almost instantly trapping the metabolites generated by the exercise within the forearm muscles. This allowed the metabolites to collect in the forearm tissue without being cleared by the circulatory system. There, the metabolites continued to activate fatigue pathways, sending messages of fatigue to the brain and allowing researchers to measure how much fatigue and pain may occur because of the trapped metabolites.

With the blood pressure cuff still inflated, the participants rated fatigue and then pain in their forearms every 30 seconds. Both patients with SEID and patients without the disease reported increasing fatigue, but patients with the disease recorded much higher levels of fatigue and pain.

“We found that the fatigued individuals reported more fatigue than the non-fatigued individuals during the exercise, and also found that they had more pain compared to the non-fatigued individuals,” Staud said.

On the Fatigue Visual Analog Scale used to measure participants’ fatigue, patients with SEID rated their fatigue at approximately 5.5 on a scale of 0 to 10 after the hand-grip exercise while wearing the inflated blood pressure cuff, whereas participants without the disease rated their fatigue at approximately 1.5.

After 30 minutes, the participants repeated the exercise, but with the opposite arm and without the cinching blood pressure cuff so the metabolites could be cleared from the arm. Both sets of participants experienced fatigue, but the feeling of fatigue in those with the disease was much lower than when the metabolites were trapped with the blood pressure cuff.

“This suggests that hypersensitive fatigue pathways play an important role for the often pronounced exercise-related fatigue of patients with the disease,” Staud said.

Next, Staud plans to explore treatment interventions and to conduct brain-imaging studies of patients with SEID.

“The take-home message here is, like many of the pain studies we have conducted, there are both peripheral and central nervous system factors at play in these complex syndromes,” said Robinson, who is also the director of the UF Center for Pain Research and Behavioral Health. “Our study seems to highlight the important role of these peripheral tissues.”

Journal Reference: Roland Staud, Meriem Mokthech, Donald D. Price, Michael E. Robinson. Evidence for sensitized fatigue pathways in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. Pain, 2015; 156 (4): 750 DOI: 10.1097/j.pain.0000000000000110

 

Source: University of Florida. “Why exercise magnifies exhaustion for chronic fatigue syndrome patients.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 12 March 2015. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/03/150312154135.htm

 

Link between early menopause, chronic fatigue syndrome discovered

A newfound link between chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and early menopause was reported online today in Menopause, the journal of The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). This link, as well as links with other gynecologic problems and with pelvic pain, may help explain why CFS is two to four times more common in women than in men and is most prevalent in women in their 40s. Staying alert to these problems may also help healthcare providers take better care of women who may be at risk for CFS, say the authors of this population-based, case-control study.

Based on a long-term study of CFS and fatiguing illnesses in Georgia, this analysis from Centers for Disease Control scientists included 84 women with CFS and 73 healthy control women who completed detailed gynecologic history questionnaires. Striking differences emerged from the comparison between those groups.

The women with CFS were some 12 times more likely to have pelvic pain that wasn’t related to menstruation (such as pelvic floor dysfunction, interstitial cystitis/painful bladder syndrome or IC/PBS, and irritable bowel syndrome) than the control women. The women with CFS also reported excessive bleeding (74% vs 42%) much more often as well as significantly more bleeding between periods (49% vs 23%) and missing periods (38% vs 22%). In addition, they used hormones for purposes other than contraception (such as to treat irregular periods, menopausal symptoms or bone loss) much more often (57% vs 26%).

Also striking, most women with CFS–66%–had undergone at least one gynecologic surgery, compared with only 32% of controls, most commonly hysterectomy (55% versus 19%). Women with CFS underwent menopause early (at or before age 45) because of hysterectomy much more often (62% vs 33%). (Surgical menopause occurs immediately when both ovaries are removed at hysterectomy and often prematurely even when ovaries are preserved.) Bleeding as the reason for hysterectomy was significantly more common in the women with CFS. They also underwent natural menopause earlier, but the numbers were too small to show a significant difference.

Although CFS has previously been linked with pelvic pain and gynecologic conditions such as endometriosis, IC/PBS, polycystic ovaries, and menstrual abnormalities, this is the first study to show a link with early menopause. Sex hormone abnormalities or their early decrease or disappearance may underlie these links, and the authors called for more research to find out whether they do play a role in causing or perpetuating CFS in some women. But meanwhile, they emphasized, women’s healthcare providers need to stay alert for symptoms of CFS, such as sleep or memory problems, muscle and joint pain, and worse symptoms after exertion, developing in women who have these gynecologic or pelvic pain problems.

“CFS can take a tremendous toll on women’s lives at midlife and on our society and healthcare system. Being aware of the association of CFS and earlier menopause can help providers assist women in sorting out symptoms of CFS from symptoms of menopause,” says NAMS Executive Director Margery Gass, MD, NCMP. This paper also raises the chicken and egg question: Is early menopause the cause of later health problems or simply the result of earlier health problems not recognized as the cause of early menopause?

Journal Reference: Roumiana S. Boneva, Jin-Mann S. Lin, Elizabeth R. Unger. Early menopause and other gynecologic risk indicators for chronic fatigue syndrome in women. Menopause, 2015; 1 DOI: 10.1097/GME.0000000000000411

 

Source: The North American Menopause Society (NAMS). “Link between early menopause, chronic fatigue syndrome discovered.” ScienceDaily. ScienceDaily, 4 February 2015.  https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150204075324.htm

 

Visual stress could be a symptom of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, research suggests

University of Leicester research team discovers vision-related abnormalities that could help in diagnosis of illness

People suffering from Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) could experience higher levels of visual stress than those without the condition, according to new research from the University of Leicester.

CFS, also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), is a condition that causes persistent exhaustion that affects everyday life and doesn’t go away with sleep or rest. Diagnosis of the condition is difficult as its symptoms are similar to other illnesses.

A research team from the University of Leicester led by Dr Claire Hutchinson from the Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour has examined patients with and without CFS and has found that those suffering from the condition are more vulnerable to pattern-related visual stress, which causes discomfort and exhaustion when viewing repetitive striped patterns, such as when reading text.

The results of the study, which is published in the journal Perception, could help in the diagnosis of CFS, as the findings suggest that there are visual system abnormalities in people with ME/CFS that may represent an identifiable and easily measurable behavioural marker of the condition.

Dr Hutchinson explained: “Diagnosis of ME/CFS is controversial. With the exception of disabling fatigue, there are few definitive clinical features of the condition and its core symptoms, overlap with those often prevalent in other conditions. As a result, ME/CFS is often a diagnosis of exclusion, being made as a last resort and possibly after a patient has experienced a series of inappropriate treatments of misdiagnosed disorders.

“It is imperative therefore that research focuses on identifying significant clinical features of CFS/ME with a view to elucidating its underlying pathology and delineating it from other illnesses. Doing so will help researchers and healthcare professionals gain important insights into the condition, aid diagnosis and, in the longer term, inform evidence-based therapeutic interventions.”

The study assessed vulnerability of ME/CFS patients to pattern-related visual stress using a standardised test called the pattern glare test, in which people report the number of visual distortions they experience when looking at three repetitive striped patterns of different levels of detail.

During the study twenty patients with CFS and twenty patients without the condition were recruited.

Participants viewed 3 patterns, the spatial frequencies (SF) of which were either 0.3 (low-SF), 2.3 (mid-SF) and 9.4 (high-SF) cycles per degree (c/deg). They then reported the number of distortions they experienced when viewing each pattern.

Patients with ME/CFS reported more distortions on the intermediate striped pattern (Pattern 2) than people without the condition.

Dr Hutchinson added: “The existence of pattern-related visual stress in ME/CFS may represent an identifiable and easily measurable behavioural marker of ME. This could, in conjunction with other diagnostic tests, help delineate it from other conditions.”

The work was funded by ME Research UK who provided funding for a 1-year MPhil studentship, awarded to Rachel Wilson, who was supervised by Drs Claire Hutchinson and Kevin Paterson from the University of Leicester’s Department of Neuroscience, Psychology and Behaviour.

Dr Neil Abbot, Research & Operations Director at ME Research UK, added: “Around three-quarters of people with ME/CFS report a range of eye and vision-related symptoms that interfere with their everyday lives, yet there has been very little scientific investigation of the problem.

“Dr Claire Hutchinson and her team have previously confirmed the existence of eye movement difficulties in ME/CFS patients, and that symptoms, including eye pain, can be severe. Her new report in Perception extends these findings and raises the possibility that vision anomalies, including pattern-related visual stress, may have a diagnostic role in the disease.”

The study ‘Increased vulnerability to pattern-related visual stress in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis’ was published in the journal Perception.

Journal Reference: Rachel L. Wilson, Kevin B. Paterson and Claire V. Hutchinson. Increased Vulnerability to Pattern-Related Visual Stress in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. Perception, November 2015 DOI: 10.1177/0301006615614467

 

Source: University of Leicester. (2015, November 24). Visual stress could be a symptom of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, research suggests. ScienceDaily. Retrieved March 4, 2017 from https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/11/151124082235.htm

 

Psychological wellbeing and quality-of-life among siblings of paediatric CFS/ME patients: A mixed-methods study

Abstract:

Chronic fatigue syndrome or myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a disabling condition known to have a negative impact on all aspects of a child’s life. However, little is understood about the impact of CFS/ME on siblings.

A total of 34 siblings completed questionnaires measuring depression (Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS)), anxiety (HADS and Spence Children’s Anxiety Scale (SCAS)) and European Quality-of-life-Youth (EQ-5D-Y). These scores were compared with scores from normative samples. Siblings had higher levels of anxiety on the SCAS than adolescents of the same age recruited from a normative sample; however, depression and quality-of-life were similar. Interviews were undertaken with nine siblings of children with CFS/ME who returned questionnaires. Interview data were analysed using a framework approach to thematic analysis.

Siblings identified restrictions on family life, ‘not knowing’ and lack of communication as negative impacts on their family, and change of role/focus, emotional reactions and social stigma as negative impacts on themselves. They also described positive communication, social support and extra activities as protective factors.

Paediatric services should be aware of the impact of CFS/ME on the siblings of children with CFS/ME, understand the importance of assessing paediatric CFS/ME patients within the context of their family and consider providing information for siblings about CFS/ME.

© The Author(s) 2015.

 

Source: Velleman S, Collin SM, Beasant L, Crawley E. Psychological wellbeing and quality-of-life among siblings of paediatric CFS/ME patients: A mixed-methods study. Clin Child Psychol Psychiatry. 2016 Oct;21(4):618-633. Epub 2015 Sep 22. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5094299/ (Full article)

 

Factor Analysis of the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire: Identifying Core Domains

Abstract:

The present study attempted to identify critical symptom domains of individuals with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Using patient and control samples collected in the United States, Great Britain, and Norway, exploratory factor analysis (EFA) was used to establish the underlying factor structure of ME and CFS symptoms.

The EFA suggested a four-factor solution: post-exertional malaise, cognitive dysfunction, sleep difficulties, and a combined factor consisting of neuroendocrine, autonomic, and immune dysfunction symptoms. The use of empirical methods could help better understand the fundamental symptom domains of this illness.

 

Source: Jason LA, Sunnquist M, Brown A, Furst J, Cid M, Farietta J, Kot B, Bloomer C, Nicholson L, Williams Y, Jantke R, Newton JL, Strand EB. Factor Analysis of the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire: Identifying Core Domains. J Neurol Neurobiol. 2015 Sep;1(4). doi: 10.16966/2379-7150.114. Epub 2015 Sep 17. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4830389/ (Full article)

 

Unintended Consequences of not Specifying Exclusionary Illnesses for Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease

Abstract:

The Institute of Medicine recently proposed a new case definition for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), as well as a new name, Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease (SEID). Contrary to the Fukuda et al.’s CFS case definition, there are few exclusionary illnesses specified for this new SEID case definition.

The current study explored this decision regarding exclusionary illnesses using the SEID criteria with four distinct data sets involving patients who had been identified as having CFS, as well as healthy controls, community controls, and other illness groups. The findings indicate that many individuals from major depressive disorder illness groups as well as other medical illnesses were categorized as having SEID. The past CFS Fukuda et al. prevalence rate in a community based sample of 0.42 increased by 2.8 times with the new SEID criteria. The consequences for this broadening of the case definition are discussed.

 

Source: Jason LA, Sunnquist M, Kot B, Brown A. Unintended Consequences of not Specifying Exclusionary Illnesses for Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease. Diagnostics (Basel). 2015 Jun 23;5(2):272-86. doi: 10.3390/diagnostics5020272. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4666441/ (Full article)