I found some older studies (warning: they try to push endoscopic sinus surgery), but they are interesting nevertheless:
ScienceDaily (Aug. 14, 2003) — Washington, D.C. – A new study published in the August 11 issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine demonstrates a possible link between unexplained chronic fatigue and sinusitis, two conditions previously not associated with each other. Also newly noted was a relationship between sinusitis and unexplained body pain.
…
Through his private internal medicine practice, Chester questioned 297 patients, noting unexplained chronic fatigue in 22%, unexplained chronic pain in 11%, and both in 9%. While these numbers are consistent with previous studies, Chester observed an unusual connection between patients with chronic pain or fatigue: prevalent sinus symptoms. Sinus symptoms were nine times more common on average in patients with unexplained chronic fatigue than the control group, and six times more common in patients with unexplained chronic pain. In addition, sinus symptoms were more common in patients with unexplained fatigue than in patients with fatigue explained by a mental or physical illness, suggesting the syndrome of unexplained fatigue is more closely associated with sinusitis than are other types of fatigue.
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15 out of the 65 patients in Chester's study met criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), a severe form of unexplained chronic fatigue associated with body pains and other symptoms. Most CFS patients had sinus symptoms and many noted a sudden onset of their illness, similar to people with sinusitis. "We clearly need to do more research to see if sinus treatments alleviate fatigue and pain. This study does, however, offer hope for possible help in the future." said Chester.
ScienceDaily (Sep. 23, 2008) — A new analysis led by researchers at Georgetown University Medical Center suggests many patients with sinusitis have aches and pains similar in severity to people in their 80s and those with arthritis or depression. … "We found that the daily experience of bodily pain was much more common in patients with sinusitis than in the overall population," explains Chester. "Confirmation that aches and pains occur with sinus disease is a relief to many patients who thought they had two separate illnesses."
So what did the meta analysis find?
A subgroup analysis of 11 studies measuring outcomes using the 36-Item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) demonstrated a moderate-sized combined effect of 0.47 (95% confidence interval, 0.38-0.56; I = 0%), corresponding to a mean +/- standard deviation improvement of 9.7 +/- 3.4 units on the SF-36 vitality domain scores.
A improvement of 10 points on the SF-36 score isn't bad, but it is not a cure to ME/CFS...
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