Abstract
Objective: The prevalence of pediatric Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) has been estimated from an ethnically and sociodemographically diverse community-based random sample of 10,119 youth aged 5–17. We assessed whether a salivary biomarker of fatigue could identify youth with ME/CFS. Study design: We examined the ratio of the concentrations of 2 peptide fragments in saliva, referred to as the Fatigue Biomarker Index (FBI), in participants from our study diagnosed with ME/CFS (n = 59) and matched controls (n = 39). Results: Significant overall differences were found in the FBI between those participants with severe ME/CFS and those with ME/CFS and the controls. Conclusions: If confirmed in other populations, the FBI could serve as an objective test to aid in the diagnosis of severe ME/CFS. Abbreviations: ANOVA: analysis of variance; BSA: bovine serum albumin; FBI: fatigue biomarker index; IM: infectious mononucleosis; ME/CFS: myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome; OF: oral fluid; S-ME/CFS: severe myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.
Original language | English (US) |
---|---|
Pages (from-to) | 189-195 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health and Behavior |
Volume | 9 |
Issue number | 4 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - 2021 |
Funding
This work was supported by the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development of the National Institutes of Health [award number R01 HD072208]. We thank Alex Tomas for expert technical assistance.
Keywords
- Fatigue biomarker index
- chronc fatigue syndrome
- myalgic encephalomyelitis
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
- Behavioral Neuroscience
- Medicine (miscellaneous)