Table 1.
Summary of study and participant characteristics
| Paper details | Sample size | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Author | Year | Study design | Diagnostic criteria | Country | Sample | ME/CFS (female%)[years] | HC (female%)[years] |
| Brenu et al. [42] | 2010 | Case Control | Fukuda | Australia | NK cells | 10 | 10 |
| Brenu et al. [2] | 2011 | Case Control | Fukuda | Australia | NK cells | 95 (70.5%) [46.47 ± 11.7] | 50 (57.7%) [41.9 ± 9.6] |
| Brenu et al. [43] | 2012 | Case Control | Fukuda | Australia | NK cells | 65 (75.4%) [47.2 ± 11.5] | 21 (66.7%) [45.2 ± 9.3] |
| Brenu et al. [14] | 2013 | Case Control | Fukuda | Australia | PBMCs | 30 [51.15 ± 1.92] | 25 [50.42 ± 1.76] |
| Curriu et al. [48] | 2013 | Case Control | Fukuda | Spain | PBMCs | 22 (73%) [44] | 30 (55%) [38] |
| Fletcher et al. [45] | 2010 | Case Control | Fukuda | USA | PBMCs | 176 (83%) [44] | 230 (86%) [41] |
| Hardcastle et al. [46] | 2015 | Case Control | Fukuda | Australia | PBMCs | Severe n = 12 (83%) [41.27 ± 10.05] | 18 (72%)[41.94 ± 10.76] |
| Moderate n = 12 (67%) [44.73 ± 12.9] | |||||||
| Hardcastle et al. [46] | 2015 | Case Control | Fukuda | Australia | PBMCs, NK cells | Severe n = 12 (83.3%) [41.25 ± 2.77] | 18 (66.7%) [40.39 ± 2.65] |
| Moderate n = 15 (73.3%) [45.93 ± 2.96] | |||||||
| Huth et al. [21] | 2014 | Case Control | Fukuda | Australia | NK cells | 29 [48.28 + 2.63] | 27 [49.15 + 2.51] |
| Huth et al. [16] | 2016 | Case Control | Fukuda | Australia | PBMCs | 14 [53.5 ± 2.17] | 11 [48.82 ± 3.46] |
| Maher et al. [20] | 2005 | Case Control | Fukuda | USA | Whole blood | 30 (83.3%) [46 ± 10] | 19 [43 ± 10] |
| Marshall-Gradisnik et al. [44] | 2016 | Case Control | Fukuda | Australia | NK cells | 39 (71.8%) [51.69 ± 2] | 30 (56.7%) [47.6 ± 2.39] |
| Nguyen et al. [49] | 2016 | Case Control | Fukuda | Australia | PBMCs | 17 (82%) [48.68 ± 1.06] | 19 (68%) [46.48 ± 1.22] |
| Nguyen et al. [5] | 2017 | Case Control | Fukuda | Australia | NK cells | 25 (68%) [48.82 ± 9.84] | 15 (70.6%) [39.2 ± 12.12] |
| Rivas et al. [51] | 2018 | Case Control | CCC | Spain | Whole blood | 76 (82.9%) [49.78] | 73 (82.2%) [48.71] |
| Stewart et al. [50] | 2003 | Case Control | Fukuda | USA | Whole blood | 90 (69%) [36.7 ± 7.3] | 50 (76%) [35.7 ± 9.2] |
| Theorell et al. [47] | 2017 | Case Control | CCC | Sweden, Norway | PBMCs | 24 (75%) [44]a | 28 (71%) [44]a |
| 24 (79%) [30]b | 24 (79%) [30]b | ||||||
ME/CFS myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome, HC healthy control, USA United States of America, NK natural killer, PBMC peripheral blood mononuclear cells
aLocation: Stockholm
bLocation: Oslo