Article:
Orthostatic Tolerance Testing in a Prospective Cohort of Adolescents with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Recovered Controls Following Infectious Mononucleosis
- Source: Clinical Pediatrics, Jul 31, 2012
Ben Z Katz, MD, et al.
[Note: Lead author Ben Z Katz, MD, is a pediatric viral infection researcher at Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, with a particular interest in Epstein-Barr virus & post viral ME/CFS. Orthostatic intolerance (hypotension) is a dizzying fall in blood pressure on standing or head-up tilt testing - of 20 points or more systolic (the first number in a BP reading) or 10 or more points diastolic.]
Abstract:
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a complex condition responsible for marked functional impairment.
The authors recently reported that 6 months following acute infectious mononucleosis (IM), 13% of adolescents met criteria for CFS.
The authors' objective was to assess standing orthostatic tolerance (SOT) in adolescents with CFS and in controls 6 months following IM.
In all, 36 of 39 adolescents diagnosed with CFS 6 months following infectious mononucleosis, and 43 of 50 recovered controls, had standing orthostatic tolerance testing (SOTT) performed.
X(2) Analysis was performed to study the relationships between SOTT and the diagnosis of CFS. [X(2) or chi-square analysis tests for the strength of associations – in this case, for whether orthostatic intolerance when standing is more strongly associated with the post-EBV chronic fatigue syndrome group than in those who didn't develop CFS.]
Adolescents diagnosed with CFS and recovered controls did not differ significantly in age, weight, or body mass index.
The authors found that:
• 9 of 36 adolescents with CFS (25%), versus
• 9 of 43 recovered controls (21%)…
…had an abnormal SOTT, which was not a statistically significant difference.
Adolescents who meet criteria for CFS 6 months following infectious mononucleosis do not have, as a group, more standing orthostatic intolerance than recovered controls.
Source: Clinical Pediatrics, Jul 31, 2012. PMID: 22850676, by Katz BZ, Stewart JM, Shiraishi Y, Mears CJ, Taylor R. Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago, Illinois, USA. [Email: bkatz@northwestern.edu]
