Tag: recovery rate

Factors Influencing the Prognosis of Patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Abstract:

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a long-term debilitating multisystem condition with poor prognosis. Studies that examined predictors of ME/CFS outcomes yielded contradictory results. We aimed to explore epidemiological and clinical prognostic factors of ME/CFS using operationalized criteria for recovery/improvement.
Adult ME/CFS patients who attended the Internal Medicine Department of Angers University Hospital, Angers, France between October 2011 and December 2019, and were followed up until December 2020, were included retrospectively. Their medical records were reviewed for data collection. Patients were classified into two groups according to the presence or absence of recovery/improvement (R/I) and compared for epidemiological characteristics, fatigue features, post-exertional malaise severity, clinical manifestations, and comorbidities.
The subgroups of recovered and significantly improved patients were then compared. 168 patients were included. Recovery and improvement rates were 8.3% and 4.8%, respectively. Older age at disease onset was associated with R/I (OR 1.06 [95% CI 1.007–1.110] (p = 0.028)), while diagnostic delay was inversely associated with R/I (OR 0.98 [95% CI 0.964–0.996] (p = 0.036)). The study findings confirmed the poor prognosis of ME/CFS and the deleterious effect of diagnostic delay on disease progression. Interestingly, being older at disease onset was associated with better outcomes, which offers hope to patients for recovery/improvement even at an advanced age.
Source: Ghali A, Lacout C, Fortrat J-O, Depres K, Ghali M, Lavigne C. Factors Influencing the Prognosis of Patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Diagnostics. 2022; 12(10):2540. https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12102540  https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4418/12/10/2540 (Full text available as PDF file)

Can we predict recovery in chronic fatigue syndrome?

Abstract:

PURPOSE: To determine if selected demographic or clinical features of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) are associated with recovery.

PATIENTS AND METHODS: A follow-up questionnaire was mailed to 341 patients who had been ill on average for nine years to ascertain “recovery” rate (defined as self-reported recovery on a visual analog scale). Baseline demographic and clinical features (functional status and psychological status) recorded at the time of the initial (baseline) clinical visit were analyzed for their association with recovery at the time of follow-up.

RESULTS: Of the 177 patients who responded to the follow-up questionnaire, only 21 (12%) reported “recovery.” Patients with higher levels of physical and social functioning and lower levels of anxiety and obsessive-compulsiveness at baseline were more likely to report recovery at follow-up (p < 0.05). No specific demographic characteristics were associated with recovery.

CONCLUSION: These findings support previous research that complete recovery from CFS is rare and that patients with less severe illness at the initial clinic visit are more likely to have a positive prognosis for recovery. However, considerable overlap in illness severity was observed between the recovered and nonrecovered groups, suggesting that accurate prediction of recovery in individual CFS patients is not currently feasible.

 

Source: Pheley AM, Melby D, Schenck C, Mandel J, Peterson PK. Can we predict recovery in chronic fatigue syndrome? Minn Med. 1999 Nov;82(11):52-6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10589213