Korean Medical College of Daejeon University, 62, Daehak-Ro, Dong-Gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea, 34520.
Institute of Bioscience and Integrative Medicine, Daejeon University, 62 Daehak-Ro, Dong-Gu, Daejeon, Republic of Korea, 34520.
J Transl Med. 2023 Oct 28;21(1):763. doi: 10.1186/s12967-023-04635-0.
Myalgic encephalitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a long-term disabling illness without a medically explained cause. Recently during COVID-19 pandemic, many studies have confirmed the symptoms similar to ME/CFS in the recovered individuals. To investigate the virus-related etiopathogenesis of ME/CFS, we conducted a systematic assessment of viral infection frequency in ME/CFS patients.
We conducted a comprehensive search of PubMed and the Cochrane Library from their inception through December 31, 2022, using selection criteria of viral infection prevalence in ME/CFS patients and controls. Subsequently, we performed a meta-analysis to assess the extent of viral infections' contribution to ME/CFS by comparing the odds ratio between ME/CFS patients and controls (healthy and/or diseased).
Finally, 64 studies met our eligibility criteria regarding 18 species of viruses, including a total of 4971 ME/CFS patients and 9221 control subjects. The participants included healthy subjects and individuals with one of 10 diseases, such as multiple sclerosis or fibromyalgia. Two DNA viruses (human herpes virus (HHV)-7 and parvovirus B19, including their co-infection) and 3 RNA viruses (borna disease virus (BDV), enterovirus and coxsackie B virus) showed odds ratios greater than 2.0 compared with healthy and/or diseased subjects. Specifically, BDV exceeded the cutoff with an odds ratio of ≥ 3.47 (indicating a "moderate association" by Cohen's d test) compared to both healthy and diseased controls.
This study comprehensively evaluated the risk of viral infections associated with ME/CFS, and identified BDV. These results provide valuable reference data for future studies investigating the role of viruses in the causation of ME/CFS.
肌痛性脑脊髓炎/慢性疲劳综合征（ME/CFS）是一种长期致残的疾病，其病因无法用医学解释。最近在 COVID-19 大流行期间，许多研究证实了康复个体中类似于 ME/CFS 的症状。为了研究 ME/CFS 与病毒相关的病因发病机制，我们对 ME/CFS 患者的病毒感染频率进行了系统评估。
我们对 PubMed 和 Cochrane Library 进行了全面检索，检索时间从其成立到 2022 年 12 月 31 日，使用的选择标准是 ME/CFS 患者和对照组的病毒感染流行率。随后，我们进行了荟萃分析，通过比较 ME/CFS 患者和对照组（健康和/或患病）之间的比值比，评估病毒感染对 ME/CFS 的贡献程度。
最终，有 64 项研究符合我们的纳入标准，涉及 18 种病毒，包括总共 4971 名 ME/CFS 患者和 9221 名对照组。参与者包括健康受试者和患有 10 种疾病之一的个体，如多发性硬化症或纤维肌痛症。两种 DNA 病毒（人类疱疹病毒（HHV）-7 和细小病毒 B19，包括它们的合并感染）和 3 种 RNA 病毒（博纳病病毒（BDV）、肠病毒和柯萨奇 B 病毒）与健康和/或患病受试者相比，比值比大于 2.0。具体而言，BDV 与健康和患病对照组相比，比值比超过了≥3.47（Cohen's d 检验表示“中度关联”）的临界值。
本研究全面评估了与 ME/CFS 相关的病毒感染风险，并确定了 BDV。这些结果为未来研究病毒在 ME/CFS 发病机制中的作用提供了有价值的参考数据。
