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IJE Advance Access published online on July 22, 2005
International Journal of Epidemiology, doi:10.1093/ije/dyi129
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Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the International Epidemiological Association © The Author 2005; all rights reserved.
Accepted June 9, 2005

Original paper

Post-Lyme borreliosis syndrome: a meta-analysis of reported symptoms

Victoria Cairns 1* and Jon Godwin 2

1 Consultant Statistician, Am Rothlauf 9, 61476 Kronberg, Germany
2 Clinical Trial Service Unit, University of Oxford, RDB, Roosevelt Drive, Oxford OX3 7LF, UK

* To whom correspondence should be addressed.
Victoria Cairns, E-mail: cairns{at}t-online.de


  Abstract

Background This meta-analysis compares the prevalence of fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, and neurocognitive difficulties in patients who have had Lyme borreliosis (LB) and control subjects without LB.

Methods Titles and abstracts in PubMed were reviewed for studies with data on the symptoms listed above that compared patients who had had LB with controls from the general population. Five studies with 504 patients and 530 controls were included in the meta-analysis.

Results The prevalence of symptoms was significantly higher in the LB patients, with P-values between <0.00001 and 0.007 for 8 of the 10 symptoms in the three categories listed above. The higher prevalence of certain neurocognitive symptoms but not others, in the same pattern as reported in the literature, is further confirmation of this syndrome. The pattern of symptoms appears to be different from that seen in fibromyalgia, depression, and chronic fatigue syndrome.

Conclusions This meta-analysis provides strong evidence that some patients with LB have fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, and neurocognitive difficulties that may last for years despite antibiotic treatment.

Keywords: Post-Lyme; chronic Lyme; Lyme; borreliosis; meta-analysis.
A Commentary has been commissioned to accompany this article and will appear with this paper in the printed issue.
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