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London post-glandular-fever fatigue cohort (White)
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Design notes & limitations. Landmark prospective inception cohort with an active comparison group (ordinary URTI), showing that an acute post-infective fatigue syndrome is markedly more common after glandular fever than after a routine URTI. A chronic fatigue syndrome persisted in a minority (~9-10%) at 6 months. Establishes specificity of the trigger, not just occurrence.
Identity & trigger
- Cohort id
white-1998-glandular-fever- Aliases
- St Bartholomew's glandular fever cohort
- Outbreak / event
- n/r
- Pathogen
- Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) (Virus)
- Exposure ascertainment
- serology
Design
- Design
- Prospective (inception)
- Denominator defined
- Yes
- Denominator method
- Consecutive patients presenting with glandular fever (EBV) or an ordinary upper respiratory tract infection, enrolled at acute presentation and followed prospectively; the URTI group serves as the comparison.
- Recruitment
- community
- Time zero
- Acute glandular fever (or comparison upper respiratory tract infection) (month)
- Control group
- Other-disease
Size & attrition
- Enrolled
- 250
- Analysed / enrolled
- 250/250 (100%)
- Max follow-up (months)
- 6
Biospecimens
- Specimens
- Yes
- Types
- serum
- Acute-phase specimens
- Yes
- Biobank
- Unknown
- External access
- Unknown
Observations (1)
Symptoms
47% Proportion
- Measure
- Fatigue sym:fatigue
- As worded
- “acute fatigue syndrome at onset after glandular fever (47%) vs after ordinary upper respiratory tract infection (20%)”
- Population
- whole cohort · denominator Unclear · N=measured, not reported
- Timing
- 0 mo (Acute) · ref Not reported
- Method
- Unclear · Structured symptom questionnaire (author-defined)
- Comparator
- Other-disease: 20%
- Comparability signature
- b8afbbaab6 — measure sym:fatigue · Unclear · ref Not reported · denom Unclear · Acute · Proportion
- Provenance
- Results/Abstract (acute fatigue syndrome 47% GF vs 20% URTI) · Manual · verified OSMF research-tracker (web-verified against source) on 2026-07-20
Publications
- White PD, Thomas JM, Amess J, Crawford DH, Grover SA, et al. (1998). Incidence, risk and prognosis of acute and chronic fatigue syndromes and psychiatric disorders after glandular fever. British Journal of Psychiatry. PMID 9926075 · DOI 10.1192/bjp.173.6.475 primary
Provenance & verification
- Registration
- n/r
- Funders
- Wellcome Trust
- Related cohorts
- none
- Symptom-inventory scope
- Single domain
- Last verified
- 2026-07-20 — OSMF research-tracker (web-verified against source)