Characterizing the Symptoms of Patients with Persistent Post-Treatment Lyme Symptoms: A Survey of Patients at a Lyme Disease Clinic in Rhode Island.
BACKGROUND
10-20% of individuals diagnosed with Lyme disease develop chronic symptoms after antibiotic treatment.


METHODS
A convenience sample of adults with self- reported, persistent post-Lyme treatment symptoms seeking treatment at the Lifespan Lyme Disease Center in Rhode Island completed a demographic and medical survey, the Patient Reported Outcomes Measurement Information System (PROMIS)-29 v2.0, and other short-form PROMIS measures of cognitive function, sleep disturbance, and fatigue.


RESULTS
Compared to average standardized scale scores (T=50; SD=10), participants had mild impairments in physical (T=41) and social (T=42) functioning, mild symptoms of depression (T=56), anxiety (T=60), and sleep disturbance (T=57), and moderate pain interference (T=62), and fatigue (T=65). Participants reported greater symptoms than some other clinical samples including those with cancer and chronic pain. Post-hoc analyses revealed that women reported higher levels of fatigue than men.


CONCLUSIONS
People with persistent post-Lyme treatment symptoms report debilitating symptoms and functional impairments which must be considered in clinical care.
['Vargas|Sara E|SE|', 'McCarthy|Meghan|M|', 'Boudreau|Matthew|M|', 'Canfield|Dylan|D|', 'Reece|Rebecca|R|', 'Flanigan|Timothy|T|']
D000328:Adult D059350:Chronic Pain D005221:Fatigue D005260:Female D006801:Humans D008193:Lyme Disease D008297:Male D011788:Quality of Life D012237:Rhode Island
Lyme disease patient-reported outcomes chronic disease quality of life