Clinical trial NCT02948556: ME/CFS: Activity Patterns and Autonomic Dysfunction
Official title: ME/CFS: Activity Patterns and Autonomic Dysfunction
Study type: OBSERVATIONAL
Overall status: UNKNOWN
Conditions: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
Lead sponsor: Stony Brook University
Sponsor class: OTHER
First posted: 2016-10-28
Enrollment: 150
Sex: ALL
Minimum age (years): 18
Maximum age (years): 65
Standard ages: ADULT
OLDER_ADULT
Accepts healthy volunteers: no
Observational model: CASE_CONTROL
Time perspective: PROSPECTIVE
Sampling method: NON_PROBABILITY_SAMPLE
Study population: Patients with a diagnosed chronic fatigue syndrome

Brief summary: The purpose of this study is to identify daily activity patterns, negative life events and autonomic abnormalities that may be related to non-improvement in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). For both naturalistic studies and behavioral intervention trials, roughly 50% of patients report worsening or unchanged illness. The proposed four year study would be the first to look at the relation between illness non-improvement, patient activities at home and autonomic function. Our long-range goal is to identify physiological signals and activity patterns that predict non-improvement and relapse and develop a self-management program that prescribes improvement-linked behaviors and discourages non-improvement activities.

Detailed description: Given the enduring debilitation and poor quality of life in ME/CFS, this study proposes to identify important activity patterns (e.g., push-crash), negative life events and autonomic dysfunction that may be associated with non-improvement. This will be accomplished with weekly online diaries, objective measures (actigraphy, heart rate monitors) and semi-structured phone interviews. Non-improvement is a rarely studied, but commonly reported outcome in this illness. For both naturalistic studies and behavioral intervention trials, roughly 50% of ME/CFS patients report worsening or unchanged illness. Also, the patient's self-management efforts may (paradoxically) produce symptom worsening and contribute to illness non-improvement. Non-improvement may also have biological relevance because activity limitations and sleep disruption in ME/CFS have both been associated with autonomic dysregulation (reduced heart rate variability). This (R01) prospective observational six month study of both daily and weekly in vivo assessments would be the first to look at non-improvement in relation to ongoing patient activities and autonomic function.

Specific Aim 1: To assess the relation between non-improvement and prospectively assessed activity patterns and life events. Hypothesis 1: Non-improvement will be significantly associated with these dimensional variables: (a) illness-exacerbating activity patterns (e.g., "push-crash") reported on home web diaries; (b) daily hassles assessed in web diaries; and (c) negative life events reported in phone interviews.

Specific Aim 2: To assess the relation between improvement and prospectively assessed activity patterns and life events. Hypothesis 2: Improvement will be significantly associated with: (a) illness-moderating activity patterns (e.g., healthy pacing) reported on home web diaries; (b) daily uplifts assessed in web diaries; and (c) positive life events assessed in phone interviews.

Specific Aim 3: To assess the relation between activity patterns and symptoms. Hypothesis 3: (a) the "push-crash" pattern will predict greater actigraphy variability and symptom variability; (b) the "limiting activity" pattern will be associated with very low actigraphy counts and high symptom severity; and (c) a healthier "pacing" pattern will be associated with moderate variability of actigraphy and symptoms.

Our secondary aim hypothesizes that autonomic dysregulation (reduced heart rate variability \[HRV\]) will be characteristic of both non-improvers and patients with a limiting activity pattern as compared to improvers and those with a healthy pacing pattern. The long-range goal is to develop a new self-management protocol that more clearly identifies non-improvement activities and how they can be changed. An important aspect of this new self-management protocol would be to identify early signals of impending relapse, particularly HRV status, via home-use portable devices that could be utilized by patients and their doctors as a warning to modify non-improvement activities, e.g., excessive activity or exercise, to prevent behavioral collapse into inactivity.

Eligibility criteria: Inclusion Criteria:

Fukuda-based ME/CFS symptoms including:

* six months of unexplained, debilitating fatigue
* 4/8 secondary symptoms impaired memory or concentration unrefreshing sleep sore throats headache muscle pain joint pain tender lymph nodes post-exertional malaise

Exclusion Criteria:

Medical: fatigue clearly attributable to self-report medical conditions.

Psychiatric any psychosis alcohol/ substance abuse within two years prior or after illness onset. depression with melancholic/psychotic features within 5 years of onset .

Two other exclusionary criteria:

* patients not dose-stabilized for at least 3 months on antidepressants ;
* patients at risk of suicide or need of urgent psychiatric treatment.

Primary outcomes:
measure: Global Impression of Change Rating
timeFrame: six months
Secondary outcomes:
Other outcomes:
Locations:
city: Stony Brook
country: United States
facility: Stony Brook University
state: New York
Study officials:
affiliation: Stony Brook University
name: Fred Friedberg, PhD
role: PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATOR
References:
citation: Friedberg F, Adamowicz JL, Bruckenthal P, Milazzo M, Ramjan S, Quintana D. Nonimprovement in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Relation to Activity Patterns, Uplifts and Hassles, and Autonomic Dysfunction. Psychosom Med. 2022 Jul-Aug 01;84(6):669-678. doi: 10.1097/PSY.0000000000001082. Epub 2022 Apr 14.