Faghy, Professor Mark A, Ashton, Dr Ruth Em, McNelis, Mr Robin et al. · Current problems in cardiology · 2024 · DOI
This editorial discusses whether measuring blood lactate levels could help manage post-exertional malaise (PEM)—the debilitating fatigue that occurs after physical activity in ME/CFS and long-COVID patients. The authors suggest that blood lactate monitoring might help identify safe exercise limits and prevent PEM crashes. However, this is an opinion piece rather than a research study with new data.
For ME/CFS and long-COVID patients, identifying objective biomarkers like blood lactate could revolutionize symptom management by providing concrete, measurable guidance on activity levels to avoid triggering post-exertional malaise. This editorial raises awareness among clinicians and patients about a potentially valuable monitoring tool that could improve quality of life and prevent disease exacerbations.
This editorial does not provide clinical trial data proving that blood lactate monitoring actually prevents PEM or improves outcomes in ME/CFS patients. It cannot establish causation between lactate levels and PEM severity, nor does it demonstrate that lactate-guided activity management is superior to other approaches. The piece is speculative and calls for future research rather than presenting validated clinical evidence.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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