Abigail Brown

Abigail A. Brown, M.A., is a Clinical Psychology Doctoral Student, at the Center for Community Research, DePaul University, Chicago, Illinois, USA.

Doctoral Dissertation

• 2017 - Investigating Post-Exertional Malaise as a Core Symptom of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Meta-Analytic Approach

Notable studies

• 2016, Mortality in patients with myalgic encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome
• 2016, The Relationship between Age and Illness Duration in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

  "Abstract:Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating illness, but it is unclear if patient age and illness duration might affect symptoms and functioning of patients. In the current study, participants were categorized into four groups based upon age (under or over age 55) and illness duration (more or less than 10 years). The groups were compared on functioning and symptoms. Findings indicated that those who were older with a longer illness duration had significantly higher levels of mental health functioning than those who were younger with a shorter or longer illness duration and the older group with a shorter illness duration. The results suggest that older patients with an illness duration of over 10 years have significantly higher levels of mental health functioning than the three other groups. For symptoms, the younger/longer illness duration group had significantly worse immune and autonomic domains than the older/longer illness group. In addition, the younger patients with a longer illness duration displayed greater autonomic and immune symptoms in comparison to the older group with a longer illness duration. These findings suggest that both age and illness duration need to be considered when trying to understand the influence of these factors on patients.

• 2016, Are Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and chronic fatigue syndrome different illnesses? A preliminary analysis (FULL TEXT)

  Abstract - Considerable discussion has transpired regarding whether chronic fatigue syndrome is a distinct illness from Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. A prior study contrasted the Myalgic Encephalomyelitis International Consensus Criteria (ME-ICC; Carruthers et al., 2011) with the Fukuda et al. (1994) CFS criteria and found that the ME-ICC identified a subset of patients with greater functional impairment and physical, mental, and cognitive problems than the larger group who met Fukuda et al. (1994) criteria (Brown et al., 2013). The current study analyzed two discrete data sets and found that the ME-ICC identified more impaired individuals with more severe symptomatology.

• 2016, Identifying Key Symptoms Differentiating Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome from Multiple Sclerosis
• 2015, Comparing and contrasting consensus versus empirical domains. Abstract
• 2015, Factor Analysis of the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire: Identifying Core Domains (FULL TEXT)
• 2014, Examining case definition criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis

  Abstract - Background: Considerable controversy has transpired regarding the core features of myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Current case definitions differ in the number and types of symptoms required. This ambiguity impedes the search for biological markers and effective treatments. Purpose: This study sought to empirically operationalize symptom criteria and identify which symptoms best characterize the illness. Methods: Patients (n = 236) and controls (n = 86) completed the DePaul Symptom Questionnaire, rating the frequency and severity of 54 symptoms. Responses were compared to determine the threshold of frequency/severity ratings that best distinguished patients from controls. A Classification and Regression Tree (CART) algorithm was used to identify the combination of symptoms that most accurately classified patients and controls. Results: A third of controls met the symptom criteria of a common CFS case definition when just symptom presence was required; however, when frequency/severity requirements were raised, only 5% met the criteria. Employing these higher frequency/severity requirements, the CART algorithm identified three symptoms that accurately classified 95.4% of participants as patient or control: fatigue/extreme tiredness, inability to focus on multiple things simultaneously, and experiencing a dead/heavy feeling after starting to exercise. Conclusions: Minimum frequency/severity thresholds should be specified in symptom criteria to reduce the likelihood of misclassification. Future research should continue to seek empirical support of the core symptoms of ME and CFS to further progress the search for biological markers and treatments.

Online presence

• ResearchGate
• Google Scholar

See also

• Leonard Jason

myalgic encephalomyelitis (M.E.) - A disease often marked by neurological symptoms, but fatigue is sometimes a symptom as well. Some diagnostic criteria distinguish it from chronic fatigue syndrome, while other diagnostic criteria consider it to be a synonym for chronic fatigue syndrome. A defining characteristic of ME is post-exertional malaise (PEM), or post-exertional neuroimmune exhaustion (PENE), which is a notable exacerbation of symptoms brought on by small exertions. PEM can last for days or weeks. Symptoms can include cognitive impairments, muscle pain (myalgia), trouble remaining upright (orthostatic intolerance), sleep abnormalities, and gastro-intestinal impairments, among others. An estimated 25% of those suffering from ME are housebound or bedbound. The World Health Organization (WHO) classifies ME as a neurological disease.

International Consensus Criteria (ICC) - A set of diagnostic criteria, based on the Canadian Consensus Criteria, that argued for the abandonment of the term "chronic fatigue syndrome" and encouraged the sole use of the term "myalgic encephalomyelitis".

cognition Thought processes, including attention, reasoning, and memory.