Department of Neurology, Sørlandet Hospital Trust, Kristiansand, Norway.
Department of Infectious Disease Immunology, Norwegian Institute of Public Health, Oslo, Norway.
Acta Neurol Scand. 2020 Sep;142(3):260-266. doi: 10.1111/ane.13263. Epub 2020 May 26.
Whether tick-borne infections can cause chronic subjective health complaints is heavily debated. If such a causal connection exists, one would expect to find more health complaints among individuals exposed to tick-borne infections than among non-exposed. In this study, we aimed to assess if exposure to tick-borne infections earlier in life, evaluated by examination of serum for IgG antibodies to tick-borne microbes, was associated with self-reported somatic symptom load.
MATERIALS & METHODS: All individuals with residential address in Søgne municipality in southern Norway, aged 18-69 years, were invited to participate in the study. Blood samples were analyzed for IgG antibodies to different tick-borne microbes, and somatic symptom load was charted by the Patient Health Questionnaire-15 (PHQ-15).
Out of 7424 invited individuals, 2968 (40.0%) were included in the study. We detected IgG antibodies to Borrelia burgdorferi sensu lato (Bb) in 22.9% (95% CI 21.4-24.4). Bb seropositive individuals reported less frequently moderate to severe somatic symptom load (ie, PHQ-15 sum score ≥ 10) than seronegative individuals (12.5% versus 17.7%, difference 5.2% [95% 2.1-8.0]). However, when adjusting for several other variables in a multivariable linear regression model, presence of serum IgG antibodies to Bb was not associated with somatic symptom load. Presence of IgG antibodies to other tick-borne microbes than Bb, or seropositivity to at least two microbes, was also not associated with somatic symptom load.
Presence of serum IgG antibodies to tick-borne microbes was not associated with self-reported somatic symptom load.
蜱传感染是否会导致慢性主观健康投诉存在很大争议。如果存在这种因果关系，那么接触蜱传感染的个体比未接触的个体应该会有更多的健康投诉。在这项研究中，我们旨在评估生命早期接触蜱传感染（通过检查血清中针对蜱传微生物的 IgG 抗体来评估）是否与自述躯体症状负担有关。
邀请居住在挪威南部 Søgne 市的所有 18-69 岁的个体参加研究。分析血液样本中针对不同蜱传微生物的 IgG 抗体，并用患者健康问卷-15（PHQ-15）记录躯体症状负担。
在所邀请的 7424 名个体中，有 2968 名（40.0%）参与了研究。我们在 22.9%（95%CI 21.4-24.4）的个体中检测到了针对伯氏疏螺旋体的 IgG 抗体。与血清阴性个体相比，血清阳性个体报告中度至重度躯体症状负担（即 PHQ-15 总分≥10）的频率较低（12.5%比 17.7%，差异 5.2%[95%CI 2.1-8.0]）。然而，在校正了多变量线性回归模型中的几个其他变量后，血清中针对伯氏疏螺旋体的 IgG 抗体的存在与躯体症状负担无关。针对其他蜱传微生物（而非伯氏疏螺旋体）的 IgG 抗体的存在，或对至少两种微生物的血清阳性，也与躯体症状负担无关。
血清中针对蜱传微生物的 IgG 抗体的存在与自述躯体症状负担无关。
