2023-08-24 エディンバラ大学
◆女性がME/CFSにより影響を受けやすいこと、共存する疾患があること、女性が男性よりも多くの症状を経験することが確認されました。また、ME/CFSを10年以上患っている場合、より重篤な病状となり、年齢とともに症状が悪化することも判明しました。
◆この研究は、ME/CFSに対する理解を深め、効果的な治療法の開発に向けた第一歩です。今後の研究では、遺伝子の役割をさらに探求するために6,000人以上の参加者を募集する予定です。ME/CFSはイギリスで多くの人々に影響を与えており、その治療法の確立が待たれています。
<関連情報>
- https://www.ed.ac.uk/news/2023/women-more-severely-affected-by-me-cfs
- https://openresearch.nihr.ac.uk/articles/3-20
発症時の感染による筋痛性脳脊髄炎のタイピング: DecodeME研究 [バージョン4] Typing myalgic encephalomyelitis by infection at onset: A DecodeME study [version 4; peer review: 2 approved]
Andrew D. Bretherick, Simon J. McGrath, Andy Devereux-Cooke, Sian Leary, Emma Northwood, Anna Redshaw, Pippa Stacey, Claire Tripp, Jim Wilson, Sonya Chowdhury, Isabel Lewis, Øyvind Almelid, Sumy V. Baby, Tom Baker, Hannes Becher, Thibaud Boutin, Malgorzata Clyde, Diana Garcia, John Ireland, Shona M. Kerr, Ewan McDowall, David Perry, Gemma L. Samms, Veronique Vitart, Jareth C. Wolfe, Chris P. Ponting
NIHR Open Research Published: 24 Apr 2023
DOI:https://doi.org/10.3310/nihropenres.13421.4
Abstract
Background: People with myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) experience core symptoms of post-exertional malaise, unrefreshing sleep, and cognitive impairment. Despite numbering 0.2-0.4% of the population, no laboratory test is available for their diagnosis, no effective therapy exists for their treatment, and no scientific breakthrough regarding pathogenesis has been made. It remains unknown, despite decades of small-scale studies, whether individuals experience different types of ME/CFS separated by onset-type, sex or age.
Methods: DecodeME is a large population-based study of ME/CFS that recruited 17,074 participants in the first 3 months following full launch. Detailed questionnaire responses from UK-based participants who all reported being diagnosed with ME/CFS by a health professional provided an unparalleled opportunity to investigate, using logistic regression, whether ME/CFS severity or onset type is significantly associated with sex, age, illness duration, comorbid conditions or symptoms.
Results: The well-established sex-bias among ME/CFS patients is evident in the initial DecodeME cohort: 83.5% of participants were females. What was not known previously was that females tend to have more comorbidities than males. Moreover, being female, being older and being over 10 years from ME/CFS onset are significantly associated with greater severity. Five different ME/CFS onset types were examined in the self-reported data: those with ME/CFS onset (i) after glandular fever (infectious mononucleosis); (ii) after COVID-19 infection; (iii) after other infections; (iv) without an infection at onset; and, (v) where the occurrence of an infection at or preceding onset is not known. Among other findings, ME/CFS onset with unknown infection status was significantly associated with active fibromyalgia.
Conclusions: DecodeME participants differ in symptoms, comorbid conditions and/or illness severity when stratified by their sex-at-birth and/or infection around the time of ME/CFS onset.
