Normal carnitine levels in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome

Background: Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) complain of muscle pain and impaired exercise tolerance. Previous studies show that this is d ue to systemic carnitine deficiency. We investigated the hypothesis that ca rnitine deficiency plays an important role in CFS in female CFS patients an d compared their results with neighbourhood controls. Methods: The level of total carnitine, free carnitine, acylcarnitine and ca rnitine eaters were measured in 25 female CFS patients and 25 healthy match ed neighbourhood controls in a blinded fashion. Results: The previously rep orted decreased level of acylcarnitine in CFS patients was not confirmed. T here were also no significant differences in levels of total carnitine, fre e carnitine and 20 carnitine eaters between CFS patients and controls. Conc lusions: The present study demonstrates that serum carnitine deficiency doe s not contribute to or causes the symptoms in many CFS patients. (C) 2000 E lsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.