Autonomic hyper-vigilance in post-infective fatigue syndrome

• Published in: Biological psychology 2010-09, Vol.85 (1), p.97-103
• Main Authors: Kadota, Yumiko, Cooper, Gavin, Burton, Alexander R., Lemon, Jim, Schall, Ulrich, Lloyd, Andrew, Vollmer-Conna, Ute
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Adult; Analysis of Variance; Attention - physiology; Autonomic activation; Autonomic Nervous System Diseases - etiology; Autonomic Nervous System Diseases - pathology; Behavioral psychophysiology; Biological and medical sciences; Case-Control Studies; Chi-Square Distribution; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic - complications; Fatigue Syndrome, Chronic - etiology; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Heart Rate - physiology; Humans; Hyper-vigilance; Hyperkinesis - etiology; Infection - complications; Interoception; Male; Middle Aged; Neuropsychological Tests; Pain Threshold - physiology; Post-infective fatigue syndrome; Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry; Psychology. Psychophysiology; Self-Assessment; Stroop task; Surveys and Questionnaires; Young Adult
• ISSN: 0301-0511; 1873-6246
• DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2010.05.009

This study examined whether post-infective fatigue syndrome (PIFS) is associated with a disturbance in bidirectional autonomic signalling resulting in heightened perception of symptoms and sensations from the body in conjunction with autonomic hyper-reactivity to perceived challenges. We studied 23 patients with PIFS and 25 healthy matched control subjects. A heartbeat discrimination task and a pressure pain threshold test were used to assess interoceptive sensitivity. Cardiac response was assessed over a 4-min Stroop task. PIFS was associated with higher accuracy in heartbeat discrimination and a lower pressure pain threshold. Increased interoceptive sensitivity correlated strongly with current symptoms and potentiated differences in the cardiac response to the Stroop task, which in PIFS was characterized by insensitivity to task difficulty and lack of habituation. Our results provide the first evidence of heightened interoceptive sensitivity in PIFS. Together with the distinct pattern in cardiac responsivity these findings present a picture of physiological hyper-vigilance and response inflexibility.