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Diagnostics
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Chronic Fatigue-Spectrum Disorders in the Era of COVID-19
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Chronic Fatigue-Spectrum Disorders in the Era of COVID-19

A special issue of Diagnostics (ISSN 2075-4418). This special issue belongs to the section "Pathology and Molecular Diagnostics".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 September 2022) | Viewed by 9622

Special Issue Editors

Prof. Dr. François-Jérôme Authier

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Reference Center for Neuromuscular Diseases, Henri Mondor University Hospital, Paris Est University, Créteil, France
Interests: acquired and non-acquired neuromuscular disorders; chronic fatigue and muscle pain; ME/CFS; nerve and muscle histology; inflammation & autoimmunity
Prof. Dr. Jean-Dominiqu De Korwin

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Lorraine University and Nancy University hospital, CHU de Nancy, Nancy, France
Interests: Internal medicine; chronic fatigue; ME/CFS

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Severe and protracted fatigue is a common complaint in medical practice and may relate to various conditions, including infection, inflammatory and autoimmune diseases, cancers, and neurological and psychiatric diseases. Chronic fatigue-spectrum disorders (CFSd) is an encompassing term and may be used to refer to persistent profound fatigue for over 3–6 months associated with other symptoms, including the following sub-categories: (a) cases meeting diagnostic criteria for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS); (b) cases that do not fully meet diagnostic criteria (non-ME chronic fatigue-Sd) but cannot be explained otherwise; (c) cases totally or partially explained by other diseases known to cause chronic fatigue (disease-associated CFS; or ME/CFS of combined etiology). SARS-CoV-2 infection complicates matters in a substantial number of patients through a CFSd termed long COVID, which constitutes a serious public health concern in the context of the current pandemic. Currently, physicians and scientists in the care of CFSd patients have to deal with the uncertainties regarding pathophysiological mechanisms, diagnostic approaches, and required investigations. We invite investigators to contribute original research articles, as well as reviews investigating CFSd pathophysiology, the criteria and biomarkers to be used for diagnosing and stratifying patients, the methods for quantifying fatigue and disability, and the contribution of biological testing, including immunological, genetic and multi-omics approaches, and physiological, imaging and histological studies. Pilot studies in animals and relevant human case reports will also be acknowledged.

Prof. Dr. François-Jérôme Authier
Prof. Dr. Jean-Dominiqu De Korwin
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Diagnostics is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

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Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

14 pages, 1014 KiB  
Article
Factors Influencing the Prognosis of Patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
by Alaa Ghali, Carole Lacout, Jacques-Olivier Fortrat, Karine Depres, Maria Ghali and Christian Lavigne
Diagnostics 2022, 12(10), 2540; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12102540 - 19 Oct 2022
Cited by 10 | Viewed by 5781
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 [...] Read more.
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. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chronic Fatigue-Spectrum Disorders in the Era of COVID-19)
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16 pages, 980 KiB  
Article
Separating Patients with SEID from Those with CFS in the French ME/CFS Association, with Some Thoughts on Nomenclature
by Julien Campagne, Isabelle Fornasieri, Barbara Andreani, Monique Eginard and Jean-Dominique de Korwin
Diagnostics 2022, 12(5), 1095; https://doi.org/10.3390/diagnostics12051095 - 27 Apr 2022
Viewed by 2768
Abstract
In 2015, the American Institute of Medicine, now called the National Academy of Medicine, (IOM/NAM) proposed new diagnostic criteria for both Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and a new label: Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease (SEID). This study aimed to evaluate the SEID criteria [...] Read more.
In 2015, the American Institute of Medicine, now called the National Academy of Medicine, (IOM/NAM) proposed new diagnostic criteria for both Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and a new label: Systemic Exertion Intolerance Disease (SEID). This study aimed to evaluate the SEID criteria among members of the French Association of ME/CFS (ASFC) and their opinion about this new name. We sent an anonymous questionnaire to 494 ASFC members, using French-translated questions derived from the IOM/NAM tool kit. Among the 178/231 responding subjects who reported ME/CFS diagnosis, 150 (84%) met the criteria of SEID. For each set of questions, we identified some of them that significantly distinguished SEID from non-SEID patients concerning unrefreshing sleep, cognitive disorders, and orthostatic intolerance items. Forty-six percent of the respondents considered the “SEID” terminology as more appropriate than “CFS”, 39% considered it inappropriate, and 15% had no opinion. Some questions better identified the SEID criteria. The IOM/NAM SEID criteria captured a large part of ASFC members suffering from ME/CFS. However, this new SEID label was not well accepted by the subjects, nor were the other denominations, suggesting that a better term should be found. Pending development of specific markers, further work with patient communities is needed to find a more suitable label. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Chronic Fatigue-Spectrum Disorders in the Era of COVID-19)
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