Fatigue experts start their own 'fatigue colloboration'
The International Collaborative on Fatigue Following Infection (COFFI). Fatigue. 2018;6(2):106-121. doi: 10.1080/21641846.2018.1426086. Katz BZ1, Collin SM2, Murphy G3, Moss-Morris R4, Wyller VB5, Wensaas KA6, Hautvast JLA7, Bleeker-Rovers CP8, Vollmer-Conna U9, Buchwald D10, Taylor R11, Little P12, Crawley E12, White PD13, Lloyd A14.
1. Department of Pediatrics, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, Chicago, USA.
2. Centre for Child & Adolescent Health, School of Social & Community Medicine, University of Bristol, UK.
3. Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, London, UK.
4. Health Psychology, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology & Neuroscience, King's College London, UK.
5. Division of Medicine and Laboratory Sciences, University of Oslo, Norway.
6. Research Unit for General Practice, Uni Research Health, Bergen, Norway.
7. Department of Primary and Community Care, Radboud university medical centre, Nijmegen, NL.
8. Department of Internal Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Radboud University Medical Centre, Nijmegen, NL.
9. School of Psychiatry, University of New South Wales, Sydney, Australia.
10. Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, University of Washington, USA.
11. Department of Occupational Therapy, University of Illinois at Chicago, USA.
12. Primary Care and Population Sciences Division, University of Southampton, Southampton, UK.
13. Wolfson Institute of Preventive Medicine, Barts and the London School of Medicine and Dentistry, Queen Mary University of London, UK.
14. Kirby Institute, University of New South Wales, Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.
Abstract
BACKGROUND:
The purpose of the Collaborative on Fatigue Following Infection (COFFI) is for investigators of post-infection fatigue (PIF) and other syndromes to collaborate on these enigmatic and poorly understood conditions by studying relatively homogeneous populations with known infectious triggers. Utilizing COFFI, pooled data and stored biosamples will support both epidemiological and laboratory research to better understand the etiology and risk factors for development and progression of PIF.
METHODS:
COFFI consists of prospective cohorts from the UK, Netherlands, Norway, USA, New Zealand and Australia, with some cohorts closed and some open to recruitment. The 9 cohorts closed to recruitment total over 3,000 participants, including nearly 1000 with infectious mononucleosis (IM),
* 500 with Q fever, * 800 with giardiasis, * 600 with campylobacter gastroenteritis (CG), *190 with Legionnaires disease and *60 with Ross River virus.
Follow-ups have been at least 6 months and up to 10 years. All studies use the Fukuda criteria for defining chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).
RESULTS:
Preliminary analyses indicated that risk factors for non-recovery from PIF included lower physical fitness, female gender, severity of the acute sickness response, and autonomic dysfunction.
CONCLUSIONS:
COFFI (https://internationalcoffi.wordpress.com/) is an international collaboration which should be able to answer questions based on pooled data that are not answerable in the individual cohorts.
Possible questions may include the following:
*Do different infectious triggers different PIF syndromes (e.g., CFS vs. irritable bowel syndrome)?;
*What are longitudinal predictors of PIF and its severity? PMID: 30666281, PMCID: PMC6333416, DOI: 10.1080/21641846.2018.1426086