In the group of people who were treated after an infection with the Lyme bacteria, 1 in 4 people appeared to suffer from complaints such as fatigue, difficulty concentrating or pain. These health complaints occur in 1 in 5 people without Lyme infection, which is therefore less common than in people with Lyme disease.
Predictors of complaints
Researchers from Radboudumc Radboud University Medical Center (Radboud University Medical Centre), Amsterdam UMC University Medical Center (University Medical Center) and the RIVM examined whether it can be predicted in the period surrounding treatment who will have long-term complaints and who will not. The researchers were unable to identify any obvious biological, genetic or clinical causes from the results. The researchers did see a certain immune reaction against the Lyme bacteria slightly more often in the blood of people who had symptoms. Whether this reaction really has anything to do with long-term complaints due to Lyme disease requires further investigation. A higher perceived severity of Lyme disease at the start of treatment was a predictor for long-term complaints after Lyme disease.
Complaints that existed at the start of the study, such as poorer physical functioning and other underlying diseases and complaints, were also predictors of chronic complaints. This applied to both people with and without Lyme disease.
LymeProspect research
The results mentioned above come from the LymeProspect study. Researchers looked for a possible cause for long-term complaints. To this end, the researchers tested the blood of 1,135 people with Lyme disease and administered questionnaires via Tekenradar.nl. The results were compared with control groups without Lyme disease.
2023-11-27 09:35:29
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