Jhmm. Vercoulen et al., PHYSICAL-ACTIVITY IN CHRONIC-FATIGUE-SYNDROME - ASSESSMENT AND ITS ROLE IN FATIGUE, Journal of Psychiatric Research, 31(6), 1997, pp. 661-673
This paper describes the assessment of physical activity in chronic fa
tigue syndrome (CFS) and investigated the following questions: Do pati
ents with CFS have low levels of physical activity: is there a relatio
nship between actual level of physical activity and fatigue; can self-
report measures adequately assess actual level of physical activity; w
hat is the role of cognitions with respect to physical activity; and a
re results with respect to physical activity specific to CFS? Three di
fferent types of activity measures were used: self-report questionnair
es, a 12-day self-observation list, and a motion-sensing device (Actom
eter) which was used as a reference for actual activity level. Fifty-o
ne patients with CFS, 50 fatigued patients with multiple sclerosis (MS
), and 53 healthy subjects participated in this study. Although none o
f the self-report questionnaires showed high correlations with the Act
ometer, questionnaires that require simple ratings of specified activi
ties were related to the Actometer and can be used as acceptable subst
itutes, in contrast to instruments that require general subjective int
erpretations of activity that had low or non-significant correlations
with the Actometer. Actometer results showed that CFS patients and MS
patients had similar activity levels and both groups were significantl
y less active than healthy subjects. Compared to MS patients, CFS pati
ents were more likely to indicate that they had been less active than
other persons they knew. Activities which patients expected to result
in higher fatigue levels were less frequently performed. Patients with
CFS had significantly higher scores on this measure than MS patients
and healthy subjects. Low levels of physical activity were related to
severe fatigue in CFS but not in MS. In conclusion, although CFS patie
nts have similar low activity levels than MS patients, there are also
important differences between both groups: in CFS cognitive factors ar
e more prominently involved in producing the low activity levels than
in MS and in CFS patients activity level is related to fatigue but not
in MS. (C) 1997 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.