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Research: New Knowledge & Publications
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This is a compilation of publications by the CDC CFS Public Health Research Program from 1993 to present. This section includes only publications involving the CDC CFS research group. The National Institutes of Health Trans-NIH Working Group for Research on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (http://orwh.od.nih.gov/cfs.html*) contains a link to the PubMed database that includes peer reviewed articles on CFS in more than 4,800 biomedical journals over the last decade.
The objective of CDC’s CFS research program is to devise control and prevention strategies for CFS The research strategy is based on longitudinal surveillance of defined populations. This avoids the bias of studies based on patients referred from physicians’ practices or studies that solicit volunteers. We use random digit dialing to evaluate households for unwellness, detailed telephone interviews of well and unwell members of surveyed household, and then detailed one day clinical evaluations of those identified as possibly having CFS and randomly selected well individuals. The surveyed populations are followed over time (cohort design) to identify incident cases and evaluate the clinical course of the illness. Finally, people identified with CFS and various controls are invited to participate in multi-day in-patient studies. In addition to questionnaire data, we measure clinical parameters (e.g., polysomnography, orthostatic instability), evaluate cognitive function, measure immune status (e.g., cytokines), evaluate neuroendocrine status (e.g., diurnal cortisol profiles), determine allostatic load, evaluate gene expression profiles, measure genetic polymorphisms, and measure the proteome (e.g., SELDI-TOF). Clearly CFS represents a complex illness that involves multiple body systems, includes alterations in homeostatic systems, and results from the combined action of many genes, environmental factors and risk-conferring behavior. The research group is multidisciplinary and includes physicians, epidemiologists, behavioral scientists, statisticians, microbiologists, and mathematicians.
Although somewhat artificial, this compilation of publications from the CDC CFS Public Health Research Group is divided into those dealing primarily with surveillance, defining CFS, studies of causality and risk factors, pathophysiology, clinical aspects, medical management, economic impact and molecular epidemiology. Each article is referenced, includes a summary, and a copy of the abstract as published. Some articles may be directly downloaded and the appropriate URL is noted. Reprints of all the articles are available upon request.
CDC conducted a study of CFS and similar illnesses in 13 counties in Georgia. Interviewers telephoned a randomly selected sample of 17,000 households and asked the selected households a short set of questions to identify household members who may have CFS and similar illnesses.
Results from this study are being prepared for publication.
* Links to non-Federal organizations found at this site are provided solely as a service to our users. These links do not constitute an endorsement of these organizations or their programs by CDC or the Federal Government, and none should be inferred. CDC is not responsible for the content of the individual organization Web pages found at these links.
Page last modified: February 29, 2008
Content source: National Center for Zoonotic, Vector-Borne, and Enteric Diseases (ZVED)
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