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. 2012 Jun;44(6):1186-93.
doi: 10.1249/MSS.0b013e3182417b9a.

Responses to exercise differ for chronic fatigue syndrome patients with fibromyalgia

Dane B Cook  1 , Aaron J Stegner, Paul R Nagelkirk, Jacob D Meyer, Fumiharu Togo, Benjamin H Natelson
Affiliations

Responses to exercise differ for chronic fatigue syndrome patients with fibromyalgia

Dane B Cook et al. Med Sci Sports Exerc. 2012 Jun.

Abstract

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia (FM) are chronic multisymptom illnesses with substantial clinical and diagnostic overlap. We have previously shown that, when controlling for aerobic fitness and accounting for comorbid FM, CFS patients do not exhibit abnormal cardiorespiratory responses during maximal aerobic exercise compared with healthy controls, despite differences in pain and exertion.

Purpose: The purpose of the present study was to examine cardiac and perceptual responses to steady-state submaximal exercise in CFS patients and healthy controls.

Methods: Twenty-one CFS patients (13 CFS with comorbid FM (CFS + FM)) and 14 controls completed 20 min of submaximal cycling exercise. Impedance cardiography was used to determine cardiac responses during exercise. Systolic blood pressure (SBP), RPE, and leg muscle pain were also measured. Data were analyzed using a doubly multivariate, repeated-measures MANOVA to model the exercise response.

Results: There was a significant multivariate time-by-group interaction (P < 0.05). The CFS + FM group exhibited an exercise response characterized by higher stroke index, ventilatory equivalents for oxygen and carbon dioxide and RPE, lower SBP, and similar HR responses compared to controls.

Conclusions: The present results extend on our previous work with maximal exercise and show that CFS and CFS + FM differ in their responses to steady-state exercise. These results highlight the importance of accounting for comorbid conditions when conducting CFS research, particularly when examining psychophysiological responses to exercise.

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Conflict of interest statement

Conflicts of Interest: The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Individual plots for each of the dependent variables included in the MANOVA; Values on the horizontal axes represent the duration of submaximal exercise in minutes. Abbreviations: CFS Only (chronic fatigue syndrome patients without comorbid fibromyalgia), CFS+FM (chronic fatigue syndrome patients with comorbid fibromyalgia), CO (healthy controls).
Figure 2
Figure 2
Plot of leg muscle pain ratings during exercise for each group; Values on the horizontal axes represent the duration of submaximal exercise in minutes. Abbreviations: CFS Only (chronic fatigue syndrome patients without comorbid fibromyalgia), CFS+FM (chronic fatigue syndrome patients with comorbid fibromyalgia), CO (healthy controls).
Figure 3
Figure 3
Plots of CI and TPRI during exercise for each group; Values on the horizontal axes represent the duration of submaximal exercise in minutes. Abbreviations: CFS Only (chronic fatigue syndrome patients without comorbid fibromyalgia), CFS+FM (chronic fatigue syndrome patients with comorbid fibromyalgia), CO (healthy controls).
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