Immunological and psychological dysfunction in patients receiving immunotherapy for chronic fatigue syndrome

Aust N Z J Psychiatry. 1992 Jun;26(2):249-56.

Abstract

Associations between immunological and psychological dysfunction in 33 patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) were examined before and in response to treatment in a double blind, placebo-controlled trial of high dose intravenous immunoglobulin. Only those patients who received active immunotherapy demonstrated a consistent pattern of correlations between improvement in depressive symptoms and markers of cell-mediated immunity (CMI). This finding lends some support to the hypothesis that depressive symptoms in patients with CFS occur secondary to, or share a common pathophysiology with, immunological dysfunction. This pattern and the lack of strong associations between depression and immunological disturbance prior to treatment are less supportive of the view that CFS is primarily a form of depressive disorder or that immunological dysfunction in patients with CFS is secondary to concurrent depression.

Publication types

  • Clinical Trial
  • Controlled Clinical Trial
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adolescent
  • Adult
  • CD4-CD8 Ratio
  • Depressive Disorder / immunology
  • Depressive Disorder / psychology
  • Depressive Disorder / therapy
  • Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / immunology
  • Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / psychology
  • Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic / therapy*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Hypersensitivity, Delayed / immunology
  • Immune Tolerance / immunology
  • Immunization, Passive*
  • Intradermal Tests
  • Leukocyte Count
  • Lymphocyte Activation / immunology
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Psychoneuroimmunology
  • T-Lymphocytes / immunology