Human herpesvirus 6 infection and risk of Chronic fatigue syndrome: a systematic review and meta-analysis, 2021, Mozhgani et al

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a neurological disease that is accompanied by excessive fatigue or tiredness. There are several reports confirming the association between Human Herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) infection and CFS illness. This systematic review and meta-analysis were performed to integrate the information of published papers with regards to this association until May 2021.

Methods: The literature search was based on keywords including “chronic fatigue syndrome and HHV 6”, “chronic fatigue syndrome and HHV-6”, “chronic fatigue syndrome and HHV6”, “chronic fatigue syndrome and Herpes virus 6”, “chronic fatigue syndrome and Herpesvirus6” in MEDLINE (Pub Med), Web of Science, and EMBASE.

Results: The literature search identified 17 studies to be included in the systematic review and 11 studies in meta-analysis. The symmetry funnel plot and Egger's test (p-value = 0.2) identified no publication bias among studies. Moreover, the low level of I2 revealed homogeneity across studies.

Discussion: In conclusion, the association between the HHV-6 infection and CFS incidence was substantiated. However, the results of this study also suggest that further comprehensive studies are needed to solidify the association between HHV-6 and CFS. Future studies should consider additional factors that may have affected the significance of such correlation.

Open access, https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/517930