Autonomic Phenotypes in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) Are Associated with Illness Severity: A Cluster Analysis

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Słomko, Joanna
Estévez-López, Fernando
Kujawski, Sławomir
Zawadka-Kunikowska, Monika
Tafil-Klawe, Małgorzata
Klawe, Jacek J
Morten, Karl J
Szrajda, Justyna
Murovska, Modra
Newton, Julia L
Zalewski, Paweł
Griffith University Author(s)
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2020
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Abstract

In this study we set out to define the characteristics of autonomic subgroups of patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS). The study included 131 patients with CFS (Fukuda criteria). Participants completed the following screening symptom assessment tools: Chalder Fatigue Scale, Fatigue Impact Scale, Fatigue Severity Scale, Epworth Sleepiness Scales, the self-reported Composite Autonomic Symptom Scale. Autonomic parameters were measured at rest with a Task Force Monitor (CNS Systems) and arterial stiffness using an Arteriograph (TensioMed Kft.). Principal axis factor analysis yielded four factors: fatigue, subjective and objective autonomic dysfunction and arterial stiffness. Using cluster analyses, these factors were grouped in four autonomic profiles: 34% of patients had sympathetic symptoms with dysautonomia, 5% sympathetic alone, 21% parasympathetic and 40% had issues with sympathovagal balance. Those with a sympathetic-dysautonomia phenotype were associated with more severe disease, reported greater subjective autonomic symptoms with sympathetic over-modulation and had the lowest quality of life. The highest quality of life was observed in the balance subtype where subjects were the youngest, had lower levels of fatigue and the lowest values for arterial stiffness. Future studies will aim to design autonomic profile-specific treatment interventions to determine links between autonomic phenotypes CFS and a specific treatment.

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Journal of Clinical Medicine

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9

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8

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© 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

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Clinical sciences

autonomic

chronic fatigue

quality of life

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Słomko, J; Estévez-López, F; Kujawski, S; Zawadka-Kunikowska, M; Tafil-Klawe, M; Klawe, JJ; Morten, KJ; Szrajda, J; Murovska, M; Newton, JL; Zalewski, P, Autonomic Phenotypes in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) Are Associated with Illness Severity: A Cluster Analysis, Journal of Clinical Medicine, 2020, 9 (8), pp. 2531

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