Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fibromyalgia (FM) are chronic multisymptom illnesses with substantial clinical and diagnostic overlap. A group of American scientists 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 to healthy controls, despite differences in pain and exertion.
The purpose of the latest study was to examine cardiac and perceptual responses to steady-state, submaximal exercise in CFS patients and healthy controls and found that 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.
