A paper using advanced analytical methods to examine data from multiple different studies, including DecodeME, has identified evidence of mitochondrial dysfunction in people with ME/CFS. Mitochondria are structures, found in every cell in the body, that convert energy from our food into a form our cells can use.
Although mitochondrial dysfunction has been linked to ME/CFS previously, this new research clearly shows that the observation is consistent across different study populations.
Replication of findings using different datasets is important as it increases the reliability of results. Often in ME/CFS research, results are inconsistent between studies due to highly heterogeneous nature of the disease, meaning that factors such as age of onset, duration of disease, symptoms, severity, and disease progression, vary widely across individuals.
Surprisingly, the study findings also indicated that there was little consistency in specific genes in people with ME/CFS across studies, something the researchers say, ‘highlights the need for larger studies.’
In their conclusion, the researchers state that their study demonstrates the value of utilising pre-exiting datasets to answer new research questions, an approach known as secondary data analysis. This method is often more cost-effective than collecting new data and allows researchers to maximise the use of already available information. However, there are limitations. The original data may have been collected to answer different research questions, meaning that some relevant information may be missing or not captured in the most appropriate way. For example, ME/CFS diagnosis in some datasets may be self-reported rather than confirmed using established criteria, which require the presence of post-exertional malaise for a diagnosis to be made.
