The Impact of a Structured Exercise Programme upon Cognitive Function in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients, 2019, Zalewski, Morten, Newton et al

[Barry]

There is growing evidence of a link between cardiovascular and muscular deconditioning and cognitive dysfunction in ME/CFS. In a cohort of females with ME/CFS, lower peak heart rate and peak oxygen uptake (assessed during a cycle ergometer exercise task) were associated with a slowed psychomotor response speed [22]. Another study identified a correlation between upper limb muscle function recovery after a fatiguing physical task with information processing speed and sustained attention [23]. These findings suggest that better physical health may lead to improved cognitive outcomes in ME/CFS patients

[My bold]

When will these people learn to tell their 'arris from their elbow!

Properly diagnosed ME/CFS is not due to to being deconditioned, but there will nonetheless be a correlation/link/association in many cases ... but the causal relationship is the other way round from what they are saying. If you have an illness that renders you incapable of exercising properly, then guess what ... you are at risk of becoming deconditioned. So of course there will be a correlation. If having a cold makes you snotty, sticking a hair dryer up your nose to dry it out is not going to cure your cold!

And the potential for improved test responses with practice, means that healthy controls need to also be checked to see how their results change with practice.

 

[Sean]

Lack of control + 50% drop-out rate + insignificant difference after corrections = no demonstrated benefit

 

[ME/CFS Skeptic]

This is very disappointing.

It seems that the sole ME/CFS research team in Poland is prescribing GET based on the deconditioning theory to all ME/CFS patients that come to their centre. And they do not seem to make an effort to obtain reliable data out of this.

As has been noted by others here, there was no control group which means that any improvement could be due to regression to the mean or patients learning to do the test better. And none of the improvements were statistically significant compared to baseline if corrections for multiply comparisons (Benjamin Hochberg) were applied. So there is really nothing to see here. Yet the authors claim: "our results support the idea of the effectiveness of such activity therapies in remediating clinical cognitive status in ME/CFS patients."

The one interesting bit of information is that ME/CFS patients in Poland also seem to experience PEM and that many think that exercise testing or programs may negatively impact their health. I suspect that many of these patients will not have been in contact with patient organisation distributing such information (except perhaps English sources online). So that may indicate that they had developed these impressions based on their own experience with ME/CFS.

 

[boolybooly]

Lack of a control group prevents the generalisability of these findings, the improved results on the third SRT may simply be a learning/experience effect.

disappointed that K.Morton, J.Newton and EUROMENE are involved in this

This is a self-selection process that filters out ME patients and leaves idiopathic chronic fatigue patients. Sampling uncertainty is a fundamental problem in ME research and researchers are expected to know better.

This is not a valid conclusion without validating whether the tests have any meaningful significance, whereas they seem reductive and arbitrary.

This is very disappointing.

I couldnt agree more.

 

[Andy]

In case anybody is interested, the study linked to below, as I understand it, details the testing used in the study that is the subject of this thread.
Open access, https://www.dovepress.com/the-impac...ning-in-fi-peer-reviewed-fulltext-article-NDT

 

[Andy]

 

[Andy]

"ME Journal Club - July

This month the chosen study was “The Impact of a Structured Exercise Programme upon Cognitive Function in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients” (Zalewski et al, 2019).

Quick summary

• People with ME showed improved visual attention following a 16 week exercise programme.

However…

• None of the statistically significant results survived after FDR correction
• Only 64% of participants were able to complete the programme."

https://www.physiosforme.com/post/me-journal-club-july

 

[Mithriel]

So if they found anything worthwhile it was that cognitive function improves alongside physical function. ME makes both worse so a let up in ME will make both better.