Scientists in the United Kingdom say they have developed a blood test that can diagnose myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) with 96% accuracy – the first of its kind.

For many who live with the debilitating condition, this will be exciting news.

Despite affecting millions of people worldwide, this condition remains poorly understood. It is characterised by unrelenting fatigue that doesn’t improve with rest, and post-exertional malaise – a worsening of symptoms after even minor physical or mental activity.

Yet with no reliable test, many people wait years for a diagnosis. This usually depends on symptoms meeting certain clinical criteria. But diagnostic criteria can be controversial as they vary worldwide and many are outdated.

An accurate blood test could be a game changer for diagnosis.

So, how excited should we get? Here’s what we know.

How diagnosis works without a test

Currently, you can only receive a diagnosis if you experience disabling fatigue – one of the key symptoms according to most clinical criteria – for at least six months, accompanied by post-exertional malaise.

But people with the condition often experience a wide range of other symptoms, including headaches, muscle or joint pain, sleep disturbances, dizziness, a racing heart, and problems with memory, thinking and decision making.

So, clinicians must also rule out other conditions with overlapping symptoms.

This means diagnosis relies heavily on clinicians’ knowledge of ME/CFS and their willingness to listen to the patient’s complex symptom history. This process can take years – and the delay in diagnosis has real consequences.

Evidence suggests early intervention is key to recovery. Rest during the early stages of the illness likely results in better long-term outcomes, as has been suggested for the clinically similar disease long COVID.

One study showed a delayed ME/CFS diagnosis was linked to poorer outcomes, meaning recovery was less likely and the chance of developing more severe symptoms increased.

Without a definitive diagnosis, patients regularly face disbelief about their illness and have limited access to information, health-care services and medical benefits.

Frequent delays in diagnosis may contribute to the condition’s low recovery rate, which is estimated at just 1–10%.

What the new study looked at

To develop a diagnostic test, the new study identified biomarkers that may be specific to people with this condition.

In this case, the biomarkers relate to epigenetics – changes in the structure of a person’s chromosomes, influencing which genes can be turned on or off.

These changes occur due to environmental influences such as stress, infection and exercise. So, when someone develops ME/CFS, the illness may change the structure of their chromosomes – but until now researchers hadn’t identified what this would look like.

The researchers examined blood samples from people they knew had ME/CFS and identified around 200 such biomarkers. These changes formed a distinct biological “signature” that was not present in the blood of healthy participants in the comparison group.

This signature was very accurate in correctly identifying which samples were from people with the condition and which were from the comparison group.

According to the researchers, the test’s sensitivity was 92% – this is the probability a positive result will show when someone has the condition. It had a specificity of 98%, meaning the probability it can rule out negative cases.

This combined to an overall diagnostic accuracy of 96%.

So, is this a breakthrough?

This research is promising, but it’s still very early days. It was a proof-of-concept study, meaning small-scale research to initially test whether an idea might work.

In this case, researchers explored the idea that structural changes in chromosomes could be used as biomarkers of ME/CFS. Their results suggest they can.

However, there were several limitations. The study involved a relatively small number of people: 47 participants with severe ME/CFS and 61 in the healthy “control” group.

The ME/CFS group had more females, and its participants were so severely affected they were housebound. So they presumably had lower activity levels than the control group.

We know a person’s sex and activity levels can influence these chromosomal changes, so this may have affected the results.

To develop a diagnostic test that can be used widely, several crucial steps remain.

How much a person’s sex and exercise levels influence these biomarkers needs to be determined. The biomarkers will also need to be validated in larger, more diverse groups, which include people with less and more severe symptoms than in this study and those from different backgrounds.

To confirm these biomarkers are truly specific to ME/CFS, they need to be compared with other conditions that share similar symptoms, such as multiple sclerosis and fibromyalgia.

Finally, it’s also important that a test, if developed, should be affordable and accessible.

ME/CFS remains a severely underdiagnosed condition, and the lack of a reliable test continues to delay care and worsen outcomes. Identifying biomarkers, as this study aimed to do, is a promising first step.

Sarah Annesley, Senior Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Cell and Molecular Biology, La Trobe University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Eating disorders are most likely to develop in young people aged between 12 and 25.

But parents and other close adults can miss the early warning signs. For example, you might notice your child doing more exercise or choosing healthier foods and see these behaviours as normal or even positive.

Eating disorders are serious mental health conditions characterised by a persistent, unhealthy relationship with food, eating and body image. They include anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa and binge eating disorder, and all are linked to a higher risk of dying early.

Eating disorders and disordered eating – which means problematic behaviours around food, without a diagnosed disorder – are on the rise among young people. Those who are LBTQIA+ are at a particularly high risk.

We know noticing and intervening early are key to stopping them developing.

So, how can you tell if your kid is developing an unhealthy relationship with their body and food?

Here’s what to look out for, and what to do if you’re worried.

7 early warning signs to watch out for

Research has identified some of the most common early warning signs of eating disorders in children. Any one of these is cause for concern.

1. They exercise too much, or can’t seem to stop

This means exercise beyond physical activity guidelines for young people. Your child may want to exercise even when injured, or may retreat to their bedroom to exercise secretly. They may be unable to sit still, jiggling body parts to use up calories.

2. They keep losing weight

Young people should be increasing in weight as they grow in height, unless medically supervised otherwise. This supports optimal development of major body organs, including the brain. But parents often miss these physical changes, as young people can become very skilled at hiding weight loss by wearing multiple layers or baggy clothes.

3. They become obsessed with food and food preparation

You might notice your child spending more time talking about food and eating, wanting to know what is in every meal so they can count calories, and seeking reassurance about how much they’ve eaten.

4. They cut out major food groups

“Clean” eating and veganism can be popular among young people. But dieting is a strong risk factor for developing an eating disorder. You may notice your child increasingly restricts their diet or is often distressed about what is an “acceptable” food to eat.

5. They become secretive around food

Does your child always find a reason to avoid eating with other people? Does a lot of food go missing from the pantry? Having dinner as a family is a protective factor – it normalises eating and helps you see what and how your child eats. This can also be why your child wants to avoid it. This is why eating regularly together is often an important component of recovery.

6. They become worried about body image, weight, shape and size

Occasional negative comments about appearance are relatively normal in adolescence, and need to be handled with care. But problems can emerge where your child makes frequent and sustained negative remarks about their body weight and/or shape.

7. They develop rituals and rules around eating

This could look like cutting food into tiny pieces, or having to eat food in a certain order or use the same crockery or cutlery every time. When rituals are disrupted, the child becomes distressed.

What you can do if you’re worried

Trust your gut

Know what to look for and act quickly if you’re concerned. The Feed Your Instinct website helps you document what you’ve observed before discussing your concerns with your child or GP. You can call The Butterfly Foundation on 1800 334 673 or chat online for non-judgmental advice. Then, get your GP involved.

Start a compassionate conversation

Gently express concern, without judgement. You might try:

You haven’t seemed yourself lately. Is everything OK?

You’ve lost a lot of weight. I’m worried about you.

Acknowledge the challenges and offer unconditional love and support. Anxiety is a major driving force of many eating disorders. Let your child know you care deeply about them and that you’re there to help and act in their best interest.

Be prepared for denial or resistance

Stay calm and be patient. It might take time for your child to acknowledge the issue. You may need to get them treatment, regardless of how willing they are.

Don’t hope it will just go away

Starvation in a young brain can cause rapid and catastrophic physical deterioration. It can lead to a vicious cycle of depression and black-and-white thinking that locks in disordered eating.

Being proactive and intervening early is key and can help avoid physical and mental health issues down the track.

In Australia, if you or someone you love is experiencing difficulties related to food and body image, you can contact the Butterfly Foundation’s national helpline on 1800 33 4673 (or via their online chat).

For parents concerned their child might be developing concerning relationships with food, weight and body image, Feed Your Instinct highlights common warning signs, provides useful information about help seeking and can generate a personalised report to take to a health professional.

Tracey Wade, Professor of Psychology, Flinders University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.