Van Den Houte, Maaike, Van Oudenhove, Lukas, Van Diest, Ilse et al. · Frontiers in psychology · 2018 · DOI
This study looked at how the body's natural pain-blocking system works in people with fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), and whether mood, depression, or heart rate variability might affect this system. Researchers compared 78 patients with these conditions to 33 healthy people using a test where they applied cold and electrical stimuli to see if pain would decrease. Unfortunately, the main pain-blocking effect the researchers expected to find did not appear in either group, so they could not draw clear conclusions about what affects pain modulation.
Understanding pain modulation mechanisms in ME/CFS and fibromyalgia is critical for identifying why patients experience amplified pain perception. This study attempted to clarify how emotional state and heart rate variability—two measurable biological features often abnormal in ME/CFS—might contribute to pain problems, which could inform targeted treatments.
This study does not establish whether negative affectivity, depression, or reduced heart rate variability cause abnormal pain modulation in ME/CFS or fibromyalgia, because the expected counter-irritation effect was not observed. The failure to replicate the basic phenomenon means no valid conclusions can be drawn about moderating relationships. Cross-sectional design prevents determination of causation or temporal relationships.
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 →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Van Den Houte, Maaike, Van Oudenhove, Lukas, Van Diest, Ilse, Bogaerts, Katleen, Persoons, Philippe, De Bie, Jozef, et al. (2018). Negative Affectivity, Depression, and Resting Heart Rate Variability (HRV) as Possible Moderators of Endogenous Pain Modulation in Functional Somatic Syndromes.. Frontiers in psychology. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00275
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-van-den-houte-2018-negative-affectivity,
author = {Van Den Houte, Maaike and Van Oudenhove, Lukas and Van Diest, Ilse and Bogaerts, Katleen and Persoons, Philippe and De Bie, Jozef and Van den Bergh, Omer},
title = {Negative Affectivity, Depression, and Resting Heart Rate Variability (HRV) as Possible Moderators of Endogenous Pain Modulation in Functional Somatic Syndromes.},
journal = {Frontiers in psychology},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00275},
note = {PubMed: 29559942},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-den-houte-2018-negative-affectivity},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/van-den-houte-2018-negative-affectivity
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