ME and cardiovascular-related mortality.

[gbells]

One thing I came across is some research showed the leading causes of death of ME patients are cancer and
cardiovascular-related mortality.

RESULTS:

The findings suggest patients in this sample are at a significantly increased risk of earlier all-cause (M = 55.9 years) and cardiovascular-related (M = 58.8 years) mortality, and they had a directionally lower mean age of death for suicide (M = 41.3 years) and cancer (M =66.3 years) compared to the overall U.S. population [M = 73.5 (all-cause), 77.7 (cardiovascular), 47.4 (suicide), and 71.1 (cancer) years of age].

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28070451

Does anyone have information on why ME patients are prone to cardiovascular-related issues?

My symptoms have been the same all along and have been getting worse all the time. I have very bad sneezing attacks every few days, which cause sinus problems and sore eyes. My head feels awful and I’m tired all the time. I feel dizzy when I stand. I have also had four heart attacks in the past two years.

https://www.meassociation.org.uk/20...ttist-travels-to-switzerland-to-end-her-life/

 

[pamojja]

Does anyone have information on why ME patients are prone to cardiovascular-related issues?

The question which may answer your question is of course, what really causes CVD? There is a good blog-serie by Dr. Malcolm Kendrick tackling exact that question, by now already 66 parts long. Just an interersting excerpt:

https://drmalcolmkendrick.org/2018/11/27/what-causes-heart-disease-part-59/

There are many, many, things that can do this. Here is a list. It is non-exhaustive, it is in no particular order, but it may give you some idea of the number of things that can cause CVD, by accelerating endothelial damage:

Smoking
Systemic Lupus Erythematosus
Use of oral steroids
Cushing’s disease
Kawasaki’s disease
Rheumatoid arthritis
High blood pressure
Omeprazole
Avastin
Thalidomide
Air pollution
Lead (the heavy metal)
Mercury
High blood sugar
Erythema nodosum
Rheumatoid arthritis
Low albumin
Acute physical stress
Acute mental stress
Chronic negative mental stress
Chronic Kidney Disease
Dehydration
Sickle cell disease
Malaria
Diabetes/high blood sugar level
Bacterial infections
Viral infections
Vitamin C deficiency
Vitamin B deficiency
High homocysteine level
Chronic kidney disease
Acute renal failure
Cocaine
Angiotensin II
Activation of the renin aldosterone angiotensin system (RAAS) etc.

Blimey, yes, that list was just off the top of my head, I could get you another fifty without much effort. And no, I did not just make it up. I have studied every single one of those factors, and many more, in exhaustive detail. The extent of how many factors there are, should not really come as a surprise to anyone, but it usually does.

It always starts with damage to the endothelium (the linings of the artheries) due to too many discreet causes (only Sickle cell and Kawasaki disease can cause full-blown CVD already in children). And always proceeds with repair, ie. plaque. And repair getting behind.

 

[borko2100]

Just because there's a correlation between those issues and ME/CFS doesnt mean they are caused by it. The earlier death from cardiovascular issues could easily be caused by other variables correlated to having ME/CFS. For example, being sedetary is a risk factor for all kinds of diseases and as we all know the majority of people with ME/CFS are very sedetary and inactive. This is just one possible explanation for those findings.

 

[Hufsamor]

This research is not very accurate.

"Family, friends, and caregivers of deceased individuals with ME or CFS were recruited through social media, patient newsletters, emails, and advocate websites. "

If your mother dies, 80 years old, and she lived her whole life with me, you are not likely to answer to those kind of recruitments. If, on the other hand, you had a daughter or a wife, who died early, you are much more likely to be reporting.

I'm rather sure that if you recruit people this way, you will always get a response that shows early death, no matter what. If you asked through media, if anyone who knew a deceased bird- lover to take contact, because of a suspicion they might die earlier than most people....the results would likely be the same. If the bird lover you knew died in his 90s you wouldn't bother to report. If he died in his 20s you would.

But if it IS true, there are a couple of theories.
As already mentioned above, there might be correlations between behaviour or underlying conditions.
One of those theories is that me I caused by an inflammation.
And they believe that the clogging of arteries are caused by inflammation as well.

So the idea is that you have an ongoing inflammation that makes you sick.
This inflammation can also cause plaque to build up.
Or give you diabetes
Or both.

How to keep the inflammation down?
It's not any good answers, besides the ones we already know but not always are able to do: eat healthy, exercise, quit smoking, etc.

 

[bread.]

I‘d bet its mitochondrial.

 

[pamojja]

How to keep the inflammation down?

The inflammation is actually a healing response to damaged endothelium.

 

[Hip]

Some of the viruses found in ME/CFS are linked to heart disease, particularly enterovirus.

Enterovirus is known to cause myocarditis, enterovirus infection of the heart valve tissues is associated with valvular heart disease, and several post-mortem studies have found that in cases of sudden death by heart attack, around 40% of those have evidence of enterovirus infection in their heart tissues.

 

[Remi]

Does high HR wear the heart out faster? Apart from orthostatic intolerance, some pwME have HR spikes when moving their limbs. I have this and the only thing I know is my ECG is normal. But I can imagine this going on for so many years (at least 30 now), it must take its toll.