Trial Report A cross-sectional study exploring the relationship between symptoms of anxiety/depression and P50 sensory gating in adults with CFS/ME, 2023, Liu

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2023.1286340/abstract

A cross-sectional study exploring the relationship between symptoms of anxiety/depression and P50 sensory gating in adult patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis
Zhandong Liu1* Xinyi Liu1 Runtao Ren1 Xue Wang1 Chunyu Han1

• 1Affiliated Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.


Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a clinical disease that affects multiple body systems.

It is characterized by persistent or recurring fatigue, which may be linked to immune, neuroendocrine, and energy metabolism dysfunctions.

Individuals with CFS may experience pain, sleep disorders, anxiety, and depression. This research analyzed the fundamental characteristics of anxiety/depression symptoms in patients with CFS and investigated the association between these symptoms and the P50 SG (sensory gate) ratio.

249 subjects fulfilled the CDC-1994 criteria for CFS and were included in the study.

The subjects successively completed the Symptom CheckList-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale-14 (HAMA-14), and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-24 (HAMD-24).

Auditory-evoked potential P50 were measured using the 128-lead-electroencephalograph.

According to HAMA and HAMD, 17.3% (n=43) of the patients did not exhibit anxiety/depression, with a threshold score of 7 and 7 for HAMA and HAMD.

When the threshold score was 14 and 20 respectively, 43.3% (n=108) of the patients did not exhibit anxiety/depression.

The SCL-90-R results indicated that 69.5% (n=173) of these individuals with the score arranging from 0 to 160 did not present mental problems.

There was a correlation between somatization scores and P50 SG ratio in the overall sample and NAOD (No anxiety or depression) group delimited by 14 and 20 respectively (p<0.05).

Regression analysis showed that anxiety and depression were risk factors associated with an abnormal P50 SG ratio.

A significant correlation exists between the P50 SG ratio and clinical symptoms such as fatigue, anxiety, and depression.

Abnormalities in brain function among patients with CFS may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of the condition, leading to their classification as being prone to functional neurological disorders.

The P50 SG ratio cannot be used as a diagnostic marker for CFS but show some significance on the mechanism, classification, treatment, and prognosis of CFS.

 

The full text has now been published.

https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fnins.2023.1286340/full

ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Neurosci., 05 January 2024
Sec. Perception Science
Volume 17 - 2023 | https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2023.1286340

A cross-sectional study exploring the relationship between symptoms of anxiety/depression and P50 sensory gating in adult patients diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis
Xinyi Liu1 Sitong Liu1 Runtao Ren1 Xue Wang2 Chunyu Han2 Zhandong Liu1*

• 1Department of Neurology, Health Care Centre, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China
• 2Department of Neurology, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, China

Introduction: Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a clinical disease that affects multiple body systems. It is characterized by persistent or recurring fatigue, which may be linked to immune, neuroendocrine, and energy metabolism dysfunctions. Individuals with CFS may experience pain, sleep disorders, anxiety, and depression. This research analyzed the fundamental characteristics of anxiety/depression symptoms in patients with CFS and investigated the association between these symptoms and the P50 SG (sensory gate) ratio.

Methods: Two hundred and forty-nine subjects fulfilled the CDC-1994 criteria for CFS and were included in the study. The subjects successively completed the Symptom CheckList-90-Revised (SCL-90-R), Hamilton Anxiety Rating Scale-14 (HAMA-14), and Hamilton Depression Rating Scale-24 (HAMD-24). Auditory-evoked potential P50 were measured using the 128-lead-electroencephalograph.

Result: According to HAMA and HAMD, 17.3% (n = 43) of the patients did not exhibit anxiety/depression, with a threshold score of 7 and 7 for HAMA and HAMD. When the threshold score was 14 and 20 respectively, 43.3% (n = 108) of the patients did not exhibit anxiety/depression. The SCL-90-R results indicated that 69.5% (n = 173) of these individuals with the score arranging from 0 to 160 did not present mental problems. There was a correlation between somatization scores and P50 SG ratio in the overall sample and no anxiety or depression (NAOD) group delimited by 14 and 20, respectively, (p < 0.05). Regression analysis showed that anxiety and depression were risk factors associated with an abnormal P50 SG ratio.

Discussion: A significant correlation exists between the P50 SG ratio and clinical symptoms such as fatigue, anxiety, and depression. Abnormalities in brain function among patients with CFS may play a crucial role in the pathogenesis of the condition, leading to their classification as being prone to functional neurological disorders. The P50 SG ratio cannot be used as a diagnostic marker for CFS but show some significance on the mechanism, classification, treatment, and prognosis of CFS.

 

Apparently, these are two different groups, based on some kind of EEG data from a sound repeated 100ms later. Supposedly, these two figures are showing the same data, but they clearly are not, so I'm not really sure what's going on here and don't have much faith in this study.



I'd also question how meaningful any results on a cohort of people diagnosed with CFS per CDC criteria in China might be for ME. And of course the Hamilton scales for anxiety and depression pretty clearly overlap with ME symptoms, so this all seems like a garbled mess.