Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2007 Apr;8(3):216-22.
doi: 10.1111/j.1526-4637.2006.00277.x.

Cold pressor pain sensitivity in monozygotic twins discordant for chronic fatigue syndrome

Philip M Ullrich  1 , Niloofar Afari, Clemma Jacobsen, Jack Goldberg, Dedra Buchwald
Affiliations

Cold pressor pain sensitivity in monozygotic twins discordant for chronic fatigue syndrome

Philip M Ullrich et al. Pain Med. 2007 Apr.

Abstract

Objective: Individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) experience many pain symptoms. The present study examined whether pain and fatigue ratings and pain threshold and tolerance levels for cold pain differed between twins with CFS and their cotwins without CFS.

Design: Cotwin control design to assess cold pain sensitivity, pain, and fatigue in monozygotic twins discordant for CFS.

Patients and setting: Fifteen monozygotic twin pairs discordant for CFS recruited from the volunteer Chronic Fatigue Twin Registry at the University of Washington.

Results: Although cold pain threshold and tolerance levels were slightly lower in twins with CFS than their cotwins without CFS, these differences failed to reach statistical significance. Subjective ratings of pain and fatigue at multiple time points during the experimental protocol among twins with CFS were significantly higher than ratings of pain (P = 0.003) and fatigue (P < 0.001) by their cotwins without CFS.

Conclusions: These results, while preliminary, highlight the perceptual and cognitive components to the pain experience in CFS. Future studies should focus on examining the heritability of pain sensitivity and the underlying mechanisms involved in the perception of pain sensitivity in CFS.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Mean visual analog scale pain ratings for monozygotic twins discordant for chronic fatigue syndrome, before, during, and after the cold pressor test.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Mean visual analog scale fatigue ratings for monozygotic twins discordant for chronic fatigue syndrome, before, during, and after the cold pressor test.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

References

    1. Fukuda K, Straus SE, Hickie I, Sharpe MC, Dobbins JG, Komaroff A. The chronic fatigue syndrome: a comprehensive approach to its definition and study. Ann Intern Med. 1994;121:953–59. - PubMed
    1. Buchwald D, Garrity D. Comparison of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and multiple chemical sensitivities. Arch Intern Med. 1994;154:2049–53. - PubMed
    1. Wolfe F, Smythe H, Yunus M, et al. The American College of Rheumatology 1990 criteria for the classification of fibromyalgia: report of the multicenter criteria committee. Arthritis Rheum. 1990;33:160–172. - PubMed
    1. Cameron OG, Minoshima S. Regional brain activation due to pharmacologically induced adrenergic interoceptive stimulation in humans. Psychosom Med. 2002;64:851–861. - PubMed
    1. White PD. What causes chronic fatigue syndrome? BMJ. 2004;329:928–929. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types