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Researcher
Professor François Jérôme Authier
Institution
Université Paris Est-Créteil, France
Start date
October 2023
Funding
ME Research UK
Background
Cognitive problems are one of the most frequent and disabling symptoms associated with ME/CFS, and most people with the disease report memory and concentration difficulties.
Several imaging techniques have been used to investigate the brain in ME/CFS, and one significant finding has been a correlation between cognitive deficits and areas of reduced blood flow in the brain.
A reduction in the metabolic activity in brain cells has also been identified in certain areas of the brain in ME/CFS, but it is not yet clear whether this too is associated with cognitive problems.
Prof. Authier and colleagues at Université Paris Est-Créteil and Henri Mondor University Hospital in Paris are planning to look at this topic further, and to try and answer some of the questions raised in previous research.
Their central hypothesis is that cognitive dysfunction is a basic feature of ME/CFS, contributing in its own right to disease-related disability, and correlates with changes in brain functional imaging and systemic biomarkers of ME/CFS.
In the COGNIME study, the researchers plan to analyse clinical, neuropsychological and neuroimaging data from people with ME/CFS, and also from patients with persistent, profound chronic fatigue but who do not meet diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS.
Objectives
The aims of the study are to:
- Analyse neuropsychological performance in 100 people with ME/CFS.
- Compare these findings with those from 200 people with persistent, profound chronic fatigue but who do not meet diagnostic criteria for ME/CFS.
- Assess whether the cognitive findings correlate with morphological and functional changes in the brain detected using neuroimaging.
- Use the neuropsychological and neuroimaging data, in combination with collected blood samples, to establish a biobank for further research.
The various assessments have already been carried out, and the focus of the project will be on recovering and analysing the data obtained in order to answer the study objectives.
The neuropsychological assessments included measures of pain, fatigue, depression, executive functions and attention, processing speed, memories, instrumental functions, and dichotic listening.
Neuroimaging was performed using magnetic resonance imaging to assess brain morphology, and positron emission tomography with a radiotracer (fluorodeoxyglucose) to examine brain metabolism.
Potential benefits
The investigators anticipate that their results will provide a detailed picture of cognitive abnormalities in ME/CFS, emphasising the significance of these symptoms in contributing to disability, and the importance of conducting an accurate neuropsychological evaluation in individuals with the disease.
The short-term practical impact may therefore be to improve the care of ME/CFS patients, to improve their disability assessment, and to develop specific therapeutic approaches.
Evidence of cognitive deficits should also prompt the establishment of further studies aiming to understand the pathophysiological mechanisms at work. The identification of potential risk factors may help physicians to detect patients at risk of cognitive dysfunction and propose adapted care for them.
