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Large Data-Driven Study Uncovers Significant PTLDS Findings
eBioMedicine (Chung, M., et al.) 3.21.23 published “Systematic 
comparisons between Lyme disease and post-treatment Lyme disease syndrome in the U.S. with administrative claims data.” The data-driven study analyzed a nationwide administrative dataset consisting of over 98 billion billing and 1.4 billion prescription archives from the years 2008 – 2016 to uncover characteristics of Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS) that may be of diagnostic or etiologic importance.
Age and temporal distributions were comparable between Lyme with absence of prolonged symptoms (APS) and PTLDS. No significant difference between PTLDS and Lyme APS was found when analyzing the number of types of antibiotics prescribed and the prescription of five different antibiotics included in the data set.
It was found that PTLDS cases have more codes interrelated to anemia, hyperlipidemia, and osteoarthrosis compared to Lyme APS. The study’s finding of hyperlipidemia is compatible with a dysregulation of fat metabolism that has been reported by other researchers. Additional examination should be carried out to realize the possible biological association between the two.
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Read the study in eBioMedicine.