Mothers of teenagers with chronic fatigue syndrome are
also more likely to have the mysterious ailment, or display
psychological stresses that may play a role in the child's
illness, a study said.
In the study that included 36 children averaging 16 years
old diagnosed with chronic fatigue, their mothers were likely
to share their symptoms, while fathers showed no connection,
the study found.
"Our study revealed a shared symptom complex of fatigue,
fatigue-associated symptoms, and psychological distress
between adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome and their
mothers," the study said.
Between 500,000 and one million Americans have chronic
fatigue syndrome.
Study author Elise M. van de Putte of Wilhelmina Children's
Hospital in Utrecht, the Netherlands, suggested the link
was the "result of an interplay between genetic susceptibility
and environmental factors."
"It may point to a gene-environment interaction in which
the child not only inherits the genetic characteristics
of the mother, but these maternal characteristics also function
as environmental factors for the child," she wrote in the
June issue of "Pediatrics," the journal of the American
Academy of Pediatrics.
The report did not rule out a mother having stressful responses
to her child's illness that reinforced the symptoms.
The illness can persist for years and often leaves victims
listless, with symptoms such as pain, headaches, swollen
lymph nodes, and problems with memory and concentration.
Increasingly, research into chronic fatigue syndrome has
pointed to genetic causes, though it was once dismissed
by some medical experts as being all in the mind.
In April, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
said genetic studies on more than 200 patients showed there
likely was a biological basis for the illness, related to
how parts of the brain respond to stress. Last year, British
researchers reported finding genetic abnormalities in sufferers'
white blood cells, which direct the body's immune response.
