Table 1.
Baseline and health characteristics of the study participants.
| Characteristic | Intervention n = 22 |
Control n = 10 |
|---|---|---|
| Age (years) mean ± SD | 51.7 ± 7.9 | 50.2 ± 5 |
| BMI (kg/m2) mean ± SD | 32.3 ± 6.2 | 32.0 ± 6.3 |
| Sex [n (%)] | ||
| Male | 14 (64) | 7 (70) |
| Female | 8 (36) | 3 (30) |
| Race [n (%)] | ||
| White | 20 (91) | 5 (50) |
| Black | 1 (1) | 5 (50) |
| Other | 1 (1) | 0 (0) |
| Married [n (%)] | 15 (65) | 4 (36) |
| Employment [n (%)] | ||
| Fulltime | 9 (41) | 10 (100) |
| Part time, unemployed, retired | 3 (13) | 0 (0) |
| Disabled | 10 (41) | 0 (0) |
| Current smoker [n (%)] | 4 (18) | 0 (0) |
| Smoked during Gulf War [n (%)] | 3 (14) | 3 (30) |
| Comorbidities [n (%)] | ||
| # diabetes (DM) | 3 (13) | 2 (15) |
| # who remained on medications (DM, blood pressure, Other) | 11 (48) | 5 (45) |
| # who recently stopped antidepressants | 11 (48) | 1 (8) |
| # who recently stopped analgesics | 8 (35) | 2 (6) |
| Symptom and function assessments- mean ± SD | ||
| VR-36 physical component summary | 30.3 ± 8.9 | 36.7 ± 10.5 |
| VR-36 mental component summary | 38.4 ± 12.1 | 40.5 ± 14.1 |
| physical functioning | 43.8 ± 20 | 59.4 ± 28.8 |
| role-physical | 35.6 ± 29.3 | 54.6 ± 37.2 |
| bodily pain | 32 ± 26.2 | 44.0 ± 29.1 |
| general health | 27.3 ± 18.5 | 40.9 ± 27.3 |
| vitality | 23.3 ± 23.1 | 32.0 ± 25.3 |
| social functioning | 36.9 ± 27.7 | 46.6 ± 35.0 |
| role-emotional | 53 ± 31.3 | 61.7 ± 34.5 |
| mental health | 53 ± 22.2 | 58.0 ± 24.2 |
| Multidimensional fatigue inventory | ||
| general fatigue | 16.9 ± 3.2 | 15.3 ± 5.3 |
| physical fatigue | 16.1 ± 4.0 | 12.6 ± 5.7 |
| reduced activity | 15 ± 4.3 | 12.4 ± 4.7 |
| reduced motivation | 13.7 ± 4.0 | 11.8 ± 3.8 |
| mental fatigue | 14.6 ± 2.8 | 15.4 ± 4.6 |
| SF McGill Pain Q-2 total pain | 4.2 ± 1.8 | 3.9 ± 2.3 |
| Kansas GWI case criteria (number positive of 6) | 4.5 ± 1.2 | 4.6 ± 0.7 |
Abbreviations: SD = standard deviation, BMI = body mass index, VR-36 = Veterans RAND 36-Item Health Survey, SF McGill Pain Q-2 = Short form McGill Pain questionnaire version 2, # = number.