Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Pathological Rhythm Characteristics Of Electro-acupuncture Adjustment Mechanism

Objective: Some researches have revealed that CFS might be a condition associated with disturbances in circadian rhythms. We conducted this study to evaluate the corrective effect of electro-acupuncture on the basal circadian and pulsatile architecture of core body temperature (CBT), autonomic nerve, and motor activity in patients with CFS with matched control group.Methods: 9 subjects who met the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) 1994 definition of CFS were matched by age, sex, and weight to 10 healthy controls. Subjects were admitted to the chronomedical test room. CBT and heart rate (HR)were collected every 30 min, systolic blood pressure (SBP) and diastolic blood pressure (DBP) lh, sympathetic skin response(SSR)and grip strength(GS) 6h, over 24 h for analysis. Also the Krupp Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) and Somatic and Psychological Health Report (SPHERE) were applied. Then subjects with CFS were randomized into treatment group and control group. Treatment group was treated with electro-acupuncture on Shenshu (BL23) and Zusanli (ST36) acupoint on both sides, while control group on non-acupoint lateral 1cm to the two acupoint as sham acupoint for 10 days. Then Subjects with CFS entered the chron -omedical test room and performanced the above detection process again. Date on CBT, HR, SBP and DBP were calculated by Halberg's cosinor analysis programme. Also repeated measures analysis of variance (ANOVA) on the logged data were used to test the difference in mean value over time between CFS subjects and controls both as a whole and at each measured time piont in CBT, HR, SBP, DBP, SSR and GS. Data on FSS and SHERE were compared by repeated measures ANOVA on the logged data. Other dates were compared using Student's t-test , chi square test or Fisher's exact test.Results: (1) Under normal condition, the CBT amplitude and SDNN and SDANN of 24h HRV of CFS group is significantly lower than health group, and there is significant difference in the time- varying tendency of CBT(P=0.0074), HR (P=0.0007) and SBP (P=0.021) beween the two groups. 12h ultradian thythm may exsit in CBT and HR and the time-varying tendency of SBP is irregular in CFS. (2) Under normal condition, there is no...