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Impact of Life Stressors on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms: An Australian Longitudinal Study
(1) Background: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex, multifaceted illness. The pathomechanism, severity and progression of this illness is still being investigated. Stressors have been implicated in symptom exacerbation for ME/CFS, however, there is limited infor...
Autores principales: | , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
MDPI
2021
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535742/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682360 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010614 |
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author | Balinas, Cassandra Eaton-Fitch, Natalie Maksoud, Rebekah Staines, Donald Marshall-Gradisnik, Sonya |
author_facet | Balinas, Cassandra Eaton-Fitch, Natalie Maksoud, Rebekah Staines, Donald Marshall-Gradisnik, Sonya |
author_sort | Balinas, Cassandra |
collection | PubMed |
description | (1) Background: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex, multifaceted illness. The pathomechanism, severity and progression of this illness is still being investigated. Stressors have been implicated in symptom exacerbation for ME/CFS, however, there is limited information for an Australian ME/CFS cohort. The aim of this study was to assess the potential effect of life stressors including changes in work, income, or family scenario on symptom severity in an Australian ME/CFS cohort over five months; (2) Methods: Australian residents with ME/CFS responded to questions relating to work, income, living arrangement, access to healthcare and support services as well as symptoms experienced; (3) Results: thirty-six ME/CFS patients (age: 41.25 ± 12.14) completed all questionnaires (response rate 83.7%). Muscle pain and weakness, orthostatic intolerance and intolerance to extreme temperatures were experienced and fluctuated over time. Sleep disturbances were likely to present as severe. Work and household income were associated with worsened cognitive, gastrointestinal, body pain and sleep symptoms. Increased access to healthcare services was associated with improved symptom presentation; (4) Conclusions: life stressors such as work and financial disruptions may significantly contribute to exacerbation of ME/CFS symptoms. Access to support services correlates with lower symptom scores. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8535742 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | MDPI |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-85357422021-10-23 Impact of Life Stressors on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms: An Australian Longitudinal Study Balinas, Cassandra Eaton-Fitch, Natalie Maksoud, Rebekah Staines, Donald Marshall-Gradisnik, Sonya Int J Environ Res Public Health Brief Report (1) Background: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex, multifaceted illness. The pathomechanism, severity and progression of this illness is still being investigated. Stressors have been implicated in symptom exacerbation for ME/CFS, however, there is limited information for an Australian ME/CFS cohort. The aim of this study was to assess the potential effect of life stressors including changes in work, income, or family scenario on symptom severity in an Australian ME/CFS cohort over five months; (2) Methods: Australian residents with ME/CFS responded to questions relating to work, income, living arrangement, access to healthcare and support services as well as symptoms experienced; (3) Results: thirty-six ME/CFS patients (age: 41.25 ± 12.14) completed all questionnaires (response rate 83.7%). Muscle pain and weakness, orthostatic intolerance and intolerance to extreme temperatures were experienced and fluctuated over time. Sleep disturbances were likely to present as severe. Work and household income were associated with worsened cognitive, gastrointestinal, body pain and sleep symptoms. Increased access to healthcare services was associated with improved symptom presentation; (4) Conclusions: life stressors such as work and financial disruptions may significantly contribute to exacerbation of ME/CFS symptoms. Access to support services correlates with lower symptom scores. MDPI 2021-10-11 /pmc/articles/PMC8535742/ /pubmed/34682360 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010614 Text en © 2021 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). |
spellingShingle | Brief Report Balinas, Cassandra Eaton-Fitch, Natalie Maksoud, Rebekah Staines, Donald Marshall-Gradisnik, Sonya Impact of Life Stressors on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms: An Australian Longitudinal Study |
title | Impact of Life Stressors on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms: An Australian Longitudinal Study |
title_full | Impact of Life Stressors on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms: An Australian Longitudinal Study |
title_fullStr | Impact of Life Stressors on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms: An Australian Longitudinal Study |
title_full_unstemmed | Impact of Life Stressors on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms: An Australian Longitudinal Study |
title_short | Impact of Life Stressors on Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Symptoms: An Australian Longitudinal Study |
title_sort | impact of life stressors on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome symptoms: an australian longitudinal study |
topic | Brief Report |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8535742/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34682360 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph182010614 |
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