We found a match
Your institution may have rights to this item. Sign in to continue.
- Title
Reduced heart rate variability predicts fatigue severity in individuals with chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis.
- Authors
Escorihuela, Rosa María; Capdevila, Lluís; Castro, Juan Ramos; Zaragozà, María Cleofé; Maurel, Sara; Alegre, José; Castro-Marrero, Jesús
- Abstract
<bold>Background: </bold>Heart rate variability (HRV) is an objective, non-invasive tool to assessing autonomic dysfunction in chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME). People with CFS/ME tend to have lower HRV; however, in the literature there are only a few previous studies (most of them inconclusive) on their association with illness-related complaints. To address this issue, we assessed the value of different diurnal HRV parameters as potential biomarker in CFS/ME and also investigated the relationship between these HRV indices and self-reported symptoms in individuals with CFS/ME.<bold>Methods: </bold>In this case-control study, 45 female patients who met the 1994 CDC/Fukuda definition for CFS/ME and 25 age- and gender-matched healthy controls underwent HRV recording-resting state tests. The intervals between consecutive heartbeats (RR) were continuously recorded over three 5-min periods. Time- and frequency-domain analyses were applied to estimate HRV variables. Demographic and clinical features, and self-reported symptom measures were also recorded.<bold>Results: </bold>CFS/ME patients showed significantly higher scores in all symptom questionnaires (p < 0.001), decreased RR intervals (p < 0.01), and decreased HRV time- and frequency-domain parameters (p < 0.005), except for the LF/HF ratio than in the healthy controls. Overall, the correlation analysis reached significant associations between the questionnaires scores and HRV time- and frequency-domain measurements (p < 0.05). Furthermore, separate linear regression analyses showed significant relationships between self-reported fatigue symptoms and mean RR (p = 0.005), RMSSD (p = 0.0268) and HFnu indices (p = 0.0067) in CFS/ME patients, but not in healthy controls.<bold>Conclusions: </bold>Our findings suggest that ANS dysfunction presenting as increased sympathetic hyperactivity may contribute to fatigue severity in individuals with ME/CFS. Further studies comparing short- and long-term HRV recording and self-reported outcome measures with previous studies in larger CFS/ME cohorts are urgently warranted.
- Subjects
CENTERS for Disease Control &; Prevention (U.S.); HEART beat; CHRONIC fatigue syndrome; MENTAL fatigue; FATIGUE (Physiology); DYSAUTONOMIA; FREQUENCY-domain analysis
- Publication
Journal of Translational Medicine, 2020, Vol 18, Issue 1, p1
- ISSN
1479-5876
- Publication type
journal article
- DOI
10.1186/s12967-019-02184-z