Lynette Hodges

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Dr Lynette Hodges is a cardiovascular exercise and health researcher and Senior Lecturer at the School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition, at Massey University, New Zealand.[1]

Notable studies[edit | edit source]

  • 2021, Effects of Post-Exertional Malaise on Markers of Arterial Stiffness in Individuals with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome[2] - (Full text)
  • 2021, Relationship between cardiopulmonary, mitochondrial and autonomic nervous system function improvement after an individualised activity programme upon Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients[3] - (Full text)
  • 2020, Prediction of Discontinuation of Structured Exercise Programme in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patient[4] - (Full text)
  • 2020, The physiological time line of post-exertional malaise in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)[5] - (Full text)

Talks and interviews[edit | edit source]

  • 2020, Conference Oral Presentation: The effects of post exertional malaise on markers of arterial stiffness|location=Presented at Clinical Exercise Physiology New Zealand.[6] Authored by: Hodges, L.
Background and objective: Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) is characterised by post-exertional malaise (PEM) following exercise. Evidence is emerging that ME/CFS patients suffer from chronic vascular dysfunction as a result of illness-related oxidative stress and vascular inflammation. The study aimed to determine whether a single bout of maximal-intensity aerobic exercise would have a negative impact on vascular function 48 and 72 hours into recovery, to investigate whether PEM impacted these measures.
Materials and Methods: ME/CFS (n=11) with gender and age-matched controls (n=11) were randomly assigned to either a 48-hour or 72-hour protocol. After 10 minutes of supine rest, each participant had measures of brachial blood pressure, augmentation index (AIx, standardized to 75bpm) and carotid-radial pulse wave velocity (crPWV) taken. This was followed by completing a maximal incremental cycle exercise test. Resting measures were repeated 48 or 72 hours later (depending on group allocation), to determine the effects of the exercise undertaken.
Results: No significant differences were found when ME/CFS were directly compared to controls at baseline. During recovery, the 48-hour control group experienced a significant 7.2% reduction in AIx from baseline measures (p<0.05), while the matched ME/CFS experienced no change in AIx. The 72-hour ME/CFS group experienced a non-significant increase of 1.4% from baseline measures. The 48 hour and 72-hour ME/CFS groups both experienced non-significant improvements in crPWV (0.56ms-1 and 1.55ms-1, respectively).
Conclusions: Our findings suggest that those with ME/CFS may not experience exercise-induced vasodilation due to chronic vascular damage, and may be a contributor to the onset of PEM. This may help determine cardiovascular risk for this illness, as well as validating our measuring methods as potential diagnostic tools for ME/CFS. Further research on a greater scale is required to validate these claims.

Online presence[edit | edit source]

  • PubMed
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  • Address:
School of Sport, Exercise and Nutrition, at
Massey University
Palmerston North 4442
New Zealand

See also[edit | edit source]

Learn more[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. Massey University, New Zealand. "Dr Lynette Hodges - Senior Lecturer - Massey University". massey.ac.nz. Retrieved May 26, 2022.
  2. Bond, Joshua; Nielsen, Tessa; Hodges, Lynette (2021). "Effects of Post-Exertional Malaise on Markers of Arterial Stiffness in Individuals with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 18 (5): 2366. doi:10.3390/ijerph18052366. ISSN 1660-4601. PMC 7957494. PMID 33671082.
  3. Kujawski, Sławomir; Cossington, Jo; Słomko, Joanna; Zawadka-Kunikowska, Monika; Tafil-Klawe, Małgorzata; Klawe, Jacek; Buszko, Katarzyna; Jakovljevic, Djordje; Kozakiewicz, Mariusz; Morten, Karl J.; Dawes, Helen; Strong, James W.L.; Murovska, Modra; Van Oosterwijck, Jessica; Estevez-Lopez, Fernando; Newton, Julia L.; Hodges, Lynette; Zalewski, Paweł; European Network on ME/CFS, (EUROMENE) (April 6, 2021). "Relationship between Cardiopulmonary, Mitochondrial and Autonomic Nervous System Function Improvement after an Individualised Activity Programme upon Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients". Journal of Clinical Medicine. 10 (7): 1542. doi:10.3390/jcm10071542. ISSN 2077-0383.
  4. Kujawski, Sławomir; Cossington, Jo; Słomko, Joanna; Dawes, Helen; Strong, James W.L.; Estevez-Lopez, Fernando; Murovska, Modra; Newton, Julia L.; Hodges, Lynette (October 26, 2020). "Prediction of Discontinuation of Structured Exercise Programme in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients". Journal of Clinical Medicine. 9 (11): 3436. doi:10.3390/jcm9113436. ISSN 2077-0383. PMC 7693605. PMID 33114704.
  5. Hodges, Lynette; Nielsen, Tessa; Cochrane, Darryl; Baken, Donald (May 2020). "The physiological time line of post‐exertional malaise in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)". Translational Sports Medicine. 3 (3): 243–249. doi:10.1002/tsm2.133. ISSN 2573-8488.
  6. Bond, J.; Hodges, L. (September 2020), The effects of post exertional malaise on markers of arterial stiffness, Presented at Clinical Exercise Physiology New Zealand. Virtual Zoom Conference.