ArticleJournal of translational medicine2023
Symptom-based clusters in people with ME/CFS: an illustration of clinical variety in a cross-sectional cohort.
Article in Journal of translational medicine, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 15 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
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Who cites it
15 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 30 citations in OpenAlex.
- Recent research in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: an evidence map.Health technology assessment (Winchester, England) · 2025Pooled it
- Evaluation of viral infection as an etiology of ME/CFS: a systematic review and meta-analysis.Journal of translational medicine · 2023Pooled it
- Australian registry reports poor health and wellbeing in people living with ME/CFS.Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- Symptom-based clusters in people with post-COVID-19 condition (PCC).Journal of translational medicine · 2026Article
- Pathophysiological mechanisms of fatigue and multidisciplinary management strategies (Review).Experimental and therapeutic medicine · 2026Review
- Abnormal T-Cell activation and cytotoxic T-Cell frequency discriminate symptom severity in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.Journal of translational medicine · 2025Article
- Functional and internalizing disorders co-aggregate with cardiometabolic and immune-related diseases within families: a population-based cohort study.BMC medicine · 2025Article
- Cerebrospinal fluid immune phenotyping reveals distinct immunotypes of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.Journal of immunology (Baltimore, Md. : 1950) · 2025Article
- Quantifying the Degree of Fatigue in People Reporting Symptoms of Post-COVID-19 Syndrome: Results from a Rasch Analysis.Physiotherapy Canada. Physiotherapie Canada · 2025Article
- Sustained illness burden over time among Australians with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.PloS one · 2025Article
- Fatigue and symptom-based clusters in post COVID-19 patients: a multicentre, prospective, observational cohort study.Journal of translational medicine · 2024Observational
- Advancing Research and Treatment: An Overview of Clinical Trials in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and Future Perspectives.Journal of clinical medicine · 2024Review
- Overlapping conditions in Long COVID at a multisite academic center.Frontiers in neurology · 2024Article
- Article
- The importance of estimating prevalence of ME/CFS in future epidemiological studies of long COVID.Frontiers in public health · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
6 authors at 3 institutions in 3 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundMyalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complex, heterogenous disease. It has been suggested that subgroups of people with ME/CFS exist, displaying a specific cluster of symptoms. Investigating symptom-based clusters may provide a better understanding of ME/CFS. Therefore, this study aimed to identify clusters in people with ME/CFS based on the frequency and severity of symptoms.
methodsMembers of the Dutch ME/CFS Foundation completed an online version of the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire version 2. Self-organizing maps (SOM) were used to generate symptom-based clusters using severity and frequency scores of the 79 measured symptoms. An extra dataset (n = 252) was used to assess the reproducibility of the symptom-based clusters.
resultsData of 337 participants were analyzed (82% female; median (IQR) age: 55 (44-63) years). 45 clusters were identified, of which 13 clusters included ≥ 10 patients. Fatigue and PEM were reported across all of the symptom-based clusters, but the clusters were defined by a distinct pattern of symptom severity and frequency, as well as differences in clinical characteristics. 11% of the patients could not be classified into one of the 13 largest clusters. Applying the trained SOM to validation sample, resulted in a similar symptom pattern compared the Dutch dataset.
conclusionThis study demonstrated that in ME/CFS there are subgroups of patients displaying a similar pattern of symptoms. These symptom-based clusters were confirmed in an independent ME/CFS sample. Classification of ME/CFS patients according to severity and symptom patterns might be useful to develop tailored treatment options.
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