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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...

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Autores principales: Balinas, Cassandra, Eaton-Fitch, Natalie, Maksoud, Rebekah, Staines, Donald, Marshall-Gradisnik, Sonya
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2021
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.
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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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