New Research Renews Hope for Chronic Fatigue Diagnostic Test
Medical experts still struggle to understand the mechanisms behind this painful syndrome. A test involving blood markers may help solve the mystery.
Chronic fatigue syndrome can be a baffling disease.
It presents people with the condition a constellation of vague symptoms, but there’s no simple or quick way to diagnose it.
The condition has mystified medical experts for decades.
But new research is giving them hope that they are finally understanding the mechanisms behind this disease, and can soon develop a new way to diagnose it quickly.
An estimated 800,000 to 2.5 million people are believed to have chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).
However, only about 20 percent of those people have been diagnosed.
Looking for clues
In the hope of finding a way to identify the disease quickly, researchers tested a variety of blood markers called cytokines from 192 patients with CFS, and compared them with cytokines taken from 392 healthy patients.
The researchers tested 51 cytokines, and concluded that 17 had “a statistically significant” association with ME/CFS and its level of severity.
The more severe the disease’s symptoms, the higher the level of these cytokines.
Thirteen of the cytokines associated with the disease were pro-inflammatory, according to the study authors.
“There’s been a great deal of controversy and confusion surrounding ME/CFS — even whether it is an actual disease,” said one of the researcher. “Our findings show clearly that it’s an inflammatory disease and provide a solid basis for a diagnostic blood test.”
The disease can affect anyone, but it is more common in people between the ages of 40 and 60. Women are more likely than men to develop the ailment, and it is more likely to occur in Caucasian people, according to the CDC.
Symptoms of ME/CFS include a lowered activity level, sleep problems, and a “post-exertional malaise,” where a person may “crash” after mental or physical exertion. People with ME/CFS also might have problems with memory or thinking, and a worsening of symptoms when they stand or sit up.
“I have seen the horrors of this disease, multiplied by hundreds of patients,” said the lead author of the study in a statement. “It’s been observed and talked about for 35 years now, sometimes with the onus of being described as a psychological condition. But chronic fatigue syndrome is by no means a figment of the imagination. This is real.”
The disease also hits people financially, leading from $17 billion to $24 billion annually in medical bills and lost income, according to the CDC.
How the test could help
A family medicine physician said the possibility of a diagnostic test could mean huge changes for patients when they first develop symptoms of the disease.
“It’s not something where you can immediately go in and think that you have it,” she said.
She explained that people have to exhibit symptoms for at least six months before they can be diagnosed.
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Chronic fatigue syndrome can be a baffling disease.
It presents people with the condition a constellation of vague symptoms, but there’s no simple or quick way to diagnose it.
The condition has mystified medical experts for decades.
But new research is giving them hope that they are finally understanding the mechanisms behind this disease, and can soon develop a new way to diagnose it quickly.
An estimated 800,000 to 2.5 million people are believed to have chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME).
However, only about 20 percent of those people have been diagnosed.
Looking for clues
In the hope of finding a way to identify the disease quickly, researchers tested a variety of blood markers called cytokines from 192 patients with CFS, and compared them with cytokines taken from 392 healthy patients.
The researchers tested 51 cytokines, and concluded that 17 had “a statistically significant” association with ME/CFS and its level of severity.
The more severe the disease’s symptoms, the higher the level of these cytokines.
Thirteen of the cytokines associated with the disease were pro-inflammatory, according to the study authors.
“There’s been a great deal of controversy and confusion surrounding ME/CFS — even whether it is an actual disease,” said one of the researcher. “Our findings show clearly that it’s an inflammatory disease and provide a solid basis for a diagnostic blood test.”
The disease can affect anyone, but it is more common in people between the ages of 40 and 60. Women are more likely than men to develop the ailment, and it is more likely to occur in Caucasian people, according to the CDC.
Symptoms of ME/CFS include a lowered activity level, sleep problems, and a “post-exertional malaise,” where a person may “crash” after mental or physical exertion. People with ME/CFS also might have problems with memory or thinking, and a worsening of symptoms when they stand or sit up.
“I have seen the horrors of this disease, multiplied by hundreds of patients,” said the lead author of the study in a statement. “It’s been observed and talked about for 35 years now, sometimes with the onus of being described as a psychological condition. But chronic fatigue syndrome is by no means a figment of the imagination. This is real.”
The disease also hits people financially, leading from $17 billion to $24 billion annually in medical bills and lost income, according to the CDC.
How the test could help
A family medicine physician said the possibility of a diagnostic test could mean huge changes for patients when they first develop symptoms of the disease.
“It’s not something where you can immediately go in and think that you have it,” she said.
She explained that people have to exhibit symptoms for at least six months before they can be diagnosed.
this is only for your information, kindly take the advice of your doctor for medicines, exercises and so on. https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com. one can see my crochet creations https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com. feel free to view for easy, simple and healthy recipes https://kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com. for info on knee replacement
Labels: blood markers, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), chronic inflammatory disease, cytokines, myalgic encephalomyelitis (MS), painful syndrome
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