Kelly Catherine, Cross Marissa, Junker Alex, Englestad Kris, Rosales Xiomara Q, Hirano Michio, Trumpff Caroline, Picard Martin
Department of Psychiatry, Division of Behavioral Medicine, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York, NY 10032, USA.
Department of Neurology, H. Houston Merritt Center, Columbia University Irving Medical Center, New York 10032, USA.
Mitochondrion. 2025 Sep;84:102033. doi: 10.1016/j.mito.2025.102033. Epub 2025 Mar 29.
Individuals with genetic mitochondrial diseases suffer from multisystem symptoms that vary in severity and over time, but the factors influencing disease manifestations are poorly understood. Based upon i) patient and family reports that stressful life events trigger or exacerbate symptoms, ii) biologically plausible pathways whereby psychological states and stress hormones influence mitochondrial energy transformation capacity, and iii) epidemiological literature linking traumatic/stressful life events and multiple neurologic disorders, we hypothesized that mitochondrial disease symptom severity may in part vary with daily mood. To examine patients' perception around potential psycho-biological mechanisms known to operate in other chronic illnesses, we administered the Stress, Health and Emotion Survey (SHES) to 70 adults with self-reported mitochondrial diseases. Participants rated how severe each of their symptom(s) was over the past year, separately for either 'good' (happy, calm) or 'bad' (stress, sad) emotional days. On average, patients reported that most symptoms were better on "good" emotional days (p < 0.0001) and worse on "bad" emotional days (p < 0.0001). Of the 29 symptoms assessed, 27 were associated with daily mood (p < 0.01). Some but not all symptoms were reported to be less or more severe on good and bad days, respectively, including fatigue, exercise intolerance, brain fog, and fine motor coordination (ps < 0.0001). These associative results suggest that on average individuals living with mitochondrial diseases perceive a connection between their mood and symptoms severity. These preliminary findings constitute an initial step towards developing more comprehensive models to understand the psychobiological factors that influence the course of mitochondrial diseases.
患有遗传性线粒体疾病的个体表现出多系统症状，这些症状的严重程度和随时间的变化各不相同，但影响疾病表现的因素却知之甚少。基于以下几点：一、患者和家属报告称，生活中的应激事件会引发或加重症状；二、心理状态和应激激素影响线粒体能量转化能力的生物学合理途径；三、将创伤性/应激性生活事件与多种神经系统疾病联系起来的流行病学文献，我们推测线粒体疾病症状的严重程度可能部分随日常情绪而变化。为了研究患者对已知在其他慢性疾病中起作用的潜在心理-生物学机制的看法，我们对70名自我报告患有线粒体疾病的成年人进行了压力、健康和情绪调查（SHES）。参与者分别对过去一年中在“好”（快乐、平静）或“坏”（压力、悲伤）情绪日里每种症状的严重程度进行评分。平均而言，患者报告称大多数症状在“好”情绪日更好（p < 0.0001），在“坏”情绪日更差（p < 0.0001）。在评估的29种症状中，27种与日常情绪有关（p < 0.01）。一些但并非所有症状在好日和坏日分别被报告为较轻或较重，包括疲劳、运动不耐受、脑雾和精细运动协调（p < 0.0001）。这些关联结果表明，平均而言，患有线粒体疾病的个体认为他们的情绪与症状严重程度之间存在联系。这些初步发现是朝着建立更全面的模型迈出的第一步，以了解影响线粒体疾病病程的心理生物学因素。
