Table 3 Hormone levels among subgroups of CFS patients as compared with healthy controls
|  | All CFS patients | Patients adhering to Fukuda- definition (n = 88) | Patients adhering to Canada 2003-definition (n = 46) | Healthy controls | P value Fukuda vs healthy controls | P value Canada 2003 vs healthy controls |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Plasma norepinephrine—mean (SD) | 1981 (777) | 1964 (806) | 1999 (906) | 1497 (418) | <0.001 | 0.001 |
Urine norepinephrine:creatinine ratio—median (IQR) | 12.4 (5.8) | 12.3 (5.0) | 13.1 (5.3) | 10.6 (5.8) | 0.088 | 0.029 |
Plasma epinephrine—median (IQR) | 308 (130) | 309 (130) | 304 (142) | 267 (99) | 0.004 | 0.019 |
Urine epinephrine:creatinine ratio—median (IQR) | 1.25 (1.22) | 1.23 (1.10) | 1.27 (1.10) | 1.45 (0.99) | 0.466 | 0.789 |
Plasma ACTH—median (IQR) | 3.80 (2.70) | 3.70 (2.70) | 4.35 (2.60) | 4.07 (2.90) | 0.272 | 0.822 |
Plasma cortisol—mean (SD) | 365 (145) | 360 (143) | 383 (153) | 351 (149) | 0.726 | 0.268 |
Urine cortisol:creatinine ratio—median (IQR) | 3.45 (3.25) | 3.47 (3.30) | 3.44 (2.80) | 5.34 (2.76) | 0.003 | 0.005 |
Plasma TSH—mean (SD) | 2.63 (1.08) | 2.48 (0.96) | 2.67 (0.87) | 2.76 (1.43) | 0.17 | 0.695 |
Plasma FT4—mean (SD) | 15.4 (2.2) | 15.4 (2.3) | 15.6 (2.5) | 14.6 (1.8) | 0.013 | 0.027 |