PMID- 11894732
OWN - NLM
STAT- MEDLINE
DCOM- 20020821
LR  - 20161020
IS  - 1088-5412 (Print)
IS  - 1088-5412 (Linking)
VI  - 23
IP  - 1
DP  - 2002 Jan-Feb
TI  - Prevalence of allergen-specific IgE among patients with chronic fatigue syndrome.
PG  - 35-9
AB  - The prevalence of atopy among patients having chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) has 
      been reported to be as high as 80% in published surveys of patients with this 
      syndrome. However, many of the reports relied on self-assessment by patients for 
      the presence of atopy or solely used total immunoglobulin E (IgE) levels to 
      assess the likelihood of atopy. To more critically assess the presence of atopy 
      among patients with CFS, testing was done for total IgE and allergen-specific IgE 
      using the Pharmacia CAP system including 20 common allergens: trees 
      (birch/oak/ash), grass (rye/blue), weeds (common/giant ragweed), molds 
      (Penicillium/Aspergillus/Alternaria), dust mites (Dermatophagoides 
      pteronyssinus/Dermatophagoides farinae), animal dander (cat/dog), and foods (egg 
      white/milk/wheat/corn/peanut/shrimp). Testing of 50 patients having documented 
      CFS indicated that 78% had total IgE < 100 IU/mL, among whom 26% had a positive 
      test for allergen-specific IgE of class I or greater for one or more allergens. 
      Among the 22% of CFS patients having a total IgE > 100 IU/mL, 73% had a positive 
      test for allergen-specific IgE for one or more allergens. The most commonly 
      positive allergens were dust mites (24-26%), whereas molds (0-6%) and foods 
      (0-4%) were rarely positive. The overall frequency of positive results for the 
      presence of allergen-specific IgE among CFS patients was 36%, not significantly 
      different from the normal prevalence of these antibodies in the general 
      population (20-35%). This assessment of the prevalence of allergen-specific IgE 
      antibodies in patients with CFS fails to support a potential association between 
      CFS and atopy.
FAU - Kowal, Krzysztof
AU  - Kowal K
AD  - Department of Allergology and Internal Disease, University Medical School, 
      Bialystok, Poland.
FAU - Schacterele, Richard S
AU  - Schacterele RS
FAU - Schur, Peter H
AU  - Schur PH
FAU - Komaroff, Anthony L
AU  - Komaroff AL
FAU - DuBuske, Lawrence M
AU  - DuBuske LM
LA  - eng
PT  - Journal Article
PL  - United States
TA  - Allergy Asthma Proc
JT  - Allergy and asthma proceedings
JID - 9603640
RN  - 0 (Allergens)
RN  - 0 (Antibodies)
RN  - 37341-29-0 (Immunoglobulin E)
SB  - IM
MH  - Allergens/*blood/immunology
MH  - Antibodies/*blood/immunology
MH  - Cross-Sectional Studies
MH  - Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic/*blood/*complications/immunology
MH  - Humans
MH  - Hypersensitivity, Immediate/*blood/*complications/immunology
MH  - Immunoassay
MH  - Immunoglobulin E/*blood/immunology
EDAT- 2002/03/16 10:00
MHDA- 2002/08/22 10:01
CRDT- 2002/03/16 10:00
PHST- 2002/03/16 10:00 [pubmed]
PHST- 2002/08/22 10:01 [medline]
PHST- 2002/03/16 10:00 [entrez]
PST - ppublish
SO  - Allergy Asthma Proc. 2002 Jan-Feb;23(1):35-9.