Abstract
A study of 60 CDC-defined chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) patients and 39 age- and sex-matched controls was undertaken to determine whether there were any alterations in plasma lipid profiles from CFS patients compared with control subjects. Plasma samples were taken from fasted (12 h) subjects and the lipid components were extracted, saponified and analyzed by capillary gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). It was found that CFS patients had different plasma saponified lipid profiles compared with control subjects (standard discriminant function analysis p < 0.02). The first and second most important factors, discriminating the CFS patients from the controls, were a decrease in trans -9-octadecenoic acid and an increase in octadecenoic acid, respectively. The relative abundance of trans -9-octadecenoic acid in the CFS patients was 0.74% compared with 0.99% in the controls ( p< 0.02) and the trans -9-octadecenoic acid:octadecenoic acid ratio was 0.15 in the CFS patients compared with 0.27 in controls ( p< 0.00002). The younger CFS patients ( < = 24 years old) could be differentiated from the older CFS patients ( > 24 years old) on the basis of their lipid profiles, whereas no such differentiation could be made within the control group. These results support an organic basis to CFS and indicate that compliance with the clinical definition of CFS does not necessarily produce a homogeneous group of patients. The differential age-related changes may occur as a result of CFS or may actually represent predisposing factors leading to and sustaining CFS.