Activity Levels in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients
Author Information
Author(s): Wayne R. Smith, Peter D. White, Dedra Buchwald
Primary Institution: University of Washington
Hypothesis
Do patients with chronic, unexplained, disabling fatigue perceive their premorbid activity levels as higher than the current activity levels perceived by healthy matched controls?
Conclusion
Patients with chronic, unexplained, disabling fatigue reported being more active before becoming ill than healthy controls.
Supporting Evidence
- Patients rated themselves as more active before their illness compared to healthy controls.
- Patients reported less current activity than healthy controls.
- The differences in activity levels remained significant for patients meeting strict criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome or fibromyalgia.
Takeaway
People who feel very tired all the time used to be more active before they got sick, but now they do less than healthy people.
Methodology
A case-control study comparing 33 patients with chronic fatigue to 33 healthy controls using self-reported activity levels.
Potential Biases
Self-reported measures may lead to overestimation of previous activity levels.
Limitations
The sample may not be generalizable to all patients with chronic fatigue, and the measures were self-reported and not validated against objective measures.
Participant Demographics
Patients were adults evaluated in a university-based clinic, with 79% female and a mean age of 45.6 years.
Statistical Information
P-Value
p ≤ 0.001
Statistical Significance
p ≤ 0.001
Digital Object Identifier (DOI)
Want to read the original?
Access the complete publication on the publisher's website