Journal of IiME Volume 1 Issue 1 Dr. Leonard Jason (continued) medical exam at Mercy Hospital, including a physical exam, laboratory tests, including a complete blood count (CBC), white blood cell differential, antinuclear antibodies (ANA), sedimentation rate (Sed rate), rheumatoid arthritis (RA factor), chest X-ray, a detailed medical interview, and a structured medical questionnaire. Participants were also asked at this time to release previous medical records to the research study. The authors received IRB approval for conducting the study. Individuals who participated in the medical examination were provided financial compensation. When each participant completed the study, a team of four physicians and a psychiatrist made the final diagnosis of CFS, Idiopathic Chronic Fatigue, Fatigue explained by a medical condition, or no fatigue. These physicians were familiar with the CFS diagnostic criteria and were blind to the experimental status of the participant. Two physicians independently rated each case to determine whether the participant met the CFS case definition (Fukuda et al., 1994). If a disagreement occurred, a third physician rater was used to arrive at a diagnostic consensus. Participants The participants for this project consisted of individuals with CFS and a control group. For the purposes of this study, it was important that the control sample include only individuals who presented themselves as mentally and physically healthy, due to the fact that abnormal medical test results were a primary variable. A total of 19 of 47 individuals in the control group were excluded from this study (e.g., on-going medical, sleep or severe and untreated psychiatric problems). The final sample included 31 in the CFS group (1 CFS participant was excluded due to lack of data on a critical variable), and 28 healthy controls. The CFS group consisted of 23 females and 8 males. The control group had 18 males and 10 females. Further demographic breakdown indicated that the CFS group had 5 African American, 14 Caucasian, 9 Latino, and 3 individuals who identified themselves as “other”. The control group consisted of 4 African American, 20 Caucasian, 2 Latino, and 2 individuals who identified as “other”. Individuals with CFS were then sub-grouped into three groups according to medical evidence of possible inflammatory processes (as evidenced by abnormal eosinophils count, abnormal rheumatoid arthritis factor [RA factor], and abnormal sedimentation rate in the presence of one of Invest in ME Charity Nr 1114035 the prior mentioned inflammatory markers), medical evidence of possible current infection (as evidenced by abnormal results on lymphocytes count or sedimentation rate [Sed rate] without the presence of an inflammatory marker), and a group without evidence of either of these organic processes. Each of these medical markers is discussed in the measures section below. When subgrouped based on these criteria, 8 participants with CFS were categorized into the Other group, 8 in the Infectious group, and 15 in the Inflammatory group. Measures Measures used for this study included laboratory blood tests, a self-report of disability, and a structured clinical interview for the determination of psychiatric diagnosis. 1 [1All measures did not total 59 as all participants did not complete every measure.] Standard laboratory tests were conducted during phase three of the full-scale study. Results used in the current study include: White blood cell (WBC) differential (specifically lymphocytes and eosinophils), rheumatoid arthritis factor (RA factor), antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and sedimentation rate (Sed rate). These laboratory tests were chosen for inclusion into the study based upon the recommendations of Fukuda and colleagues (1994) for diagnosing CFS. These tests are all part of the recommended minimum battery of laboratory screening tests suggested by this group in order to exclude other physiological causes of fatigue or another disease process. All blood-work completed for this study was analyzed through the laboratories at Mercy Hospital in Chicago Illinois, or National Health Laboratories Incorporated-Chicago, in Elmhurst, IL.. Eosinophils and Lymphocytes Eosinophils and lymphocytes are specific leukocytes. To obtain 10 types of the values presented and considered in this study, automated white blood cell differentials were performed. Differential white blood count is part of the complete blood count (CBC) and is composed of five types of leukocytes (WBCs whose chief function is to protect the body against microorganisms causing disease). These five consist of eosinophils, lymphocytes, neutrophils, basophils, and monocytes. The differential WBC is expressed in cubic millimeters and percent of total number of WBCs. antinuclear antibodies [ANA], When elevated, eosinophil counts can indicate the presence of allergic inflammation, some forms of cancer, (continued page11) www.investinme.org
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