November 12, 1999
New grant for UW chronic fatigue syndrome study
The University of Washington (UW) Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Cooperative Research Center, based at Harborview Medical Center, has received funding from the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) to examine familial predisposition to the illness.
The grant covers a second four-year stage for the multi-faceted research program that includes:
Comparing children of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) cases and children of healthy controls to determine the impact of parental illness;
Examining how the perception and responses of intimate partners of CFS patients impact the patient?s functional disability;
In-depth studies of identical twins (one with CFS and the other without).
Studies of twins are a unique opportunity to adjust for inherited and environmental factors such as exposures and early life experiences, according to Dr. Dedra Buchwald, lead researcher and director of center and UW associate professor of medicine.
Over the past four years, the center recruited 312 pairs of twins from around the country for telephone interviews. Among them, 22 sets have come to Harborview for sleep studies, tests on immune systems, pulmonary and exercise function, immune and virological tests, brain mapping, cognitive tests and more. In the next four years, the same twin sets will return for more focused studies.
CFS causes severe unexplained fatigue among healthy adults or adolescents, affecting sleep and memory, and causing muscular and joint aches. Symptoms can lead to disability, both due to and resulting in psychological distress, social dysfunction and other factors that perpetuate illness.
Three CFS Cooperative Research Centers were awarded a total of $1.9million from NIAID. The other centers were the University of Medicine and Dentistry in Newark, NJ, and the University of Miami.
