Dear Sir,
In our commentary [1] on paper by Broderick et al. regarding diagnostic criteria for CFS [2], Professor van Der Meer and I inadvertently cited a letter by Stouten et al. in a section of our correspondence suggesting that their response to the publication of the PACE [3] trial for patients with CFS was unscientific and included personal attacks on the authors of that study, as it was interspersed with a series of letters that met those descriptors. However, it is clear that the letter by Stouten et al. raised valid scientific concerns about the trial. We wish to note that this letter should not have been included as an example in our correspondence and apologize to the authors for any distress caused.
Comment on: A controversial consensus–comment on article by Broderick et al. [J Intern Med. 2012]
Source: Lloyd AR. Apology. J Intern Med. 2013 Jun;273(6):628. doi: 10.1111/joim.12074. Epub 2013 May 6. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/joim.12074/full (Full article)