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Hemorheological responses to an acute bout of maximal exercise in Veterans with Gulf War Illness
Wei Qian1, Jacquelyn C Klein-Adams2, Duncan S Ndirangu2
1Airborne Hazards and Burn Pits Center of Excellence, War Related Illness and Injury Study Center, Veterans Affairs New Jersey Health Care System, East Orange, NJ, USA; New Jersey Medical School, Rutgers Biomedical and Health Sciences, Newark, NJ, USA.
Background:
Altered red blood cell (RBC) deformability has been reported in Veterans with Gulf War Illness (GWI) who endorse exercise-induced symptom exacerbation and fatigue. However, it is unknown whether altered RBC deformability is worsened secondary to exercise.
Objective:
To evaluate RBC deformability in response to maximal exercise in individuals with and without GWI.
Methods:
Seventeen Veterans with GWI and 11 controls performed maximal exercise and provided blood samples (pre-, immediately post- and 60-min post-exercise). We calculated RBC deformation at infinite stress (EIMAX), shear stress for half-deformation (SS1/2) and their ratio (SS1/2/EIMAX) via repeated measures ANOVA with group and time as factors.
Results:
A moderate interaction effect (p = 0.08, η2p = 0.10), large main effect for group (p = 0.02, η2p = 0.19) and moderate main effect for time (p = 0.20, η2p = 0.06) were observed for EIMAX, but only the main effect for group reached statistical significance. Changes in SS1/2 and SS1/2/EIMAX over time were similar between cases and controls as were main effects.
Conclusions:
Veterans with GWI had more deformable RBCs in comparison to controls that was unaffected by maximal exercise. Future studies to confirm our findings and identify associated mechanisms are warranted.
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