Comment in: Chronic fatigue syndrome. [Br J Gen Pract. 2001]
Comment on: Frequency of attendance in general practice and symptoms before development of chronic fatigue syndrome: a case-control study. [Br J Gen Pract. 2001]
The study of Hamilton et al in the July issue of the BJGP, 1 claims that a higher consultation rate in people with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) before they develop the diagnosis supports the hypothesis that behavioural factors have a role in its aetiology. A similar case-control study of mothers and fathers of Down’s syndrome children showed that both mothers and fathers had significantly more recorded illnesses before the birth of the child and that the mothers had significantly more psychosis, neurosis or self-poisoning.2
The problem with such findings is deciding what they mean. No-one would suggest that Down’s syndrome is caused by ‘behavioural factors,’ so why should anyone believe that of CFS? There is no more evidence that increased frequency of attendance before diagnosis points to behavioural factors in CFS than that it points to non-dysjunction in the germ cells of mothers of Down’s syndrome children.
You can read the rest of this comment here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1314117/pdf/11593850.pdf
Source: Murdoch JC. Chronic fatigue syndrome. Br J Gen Pract. 2001 Sep;51(470):758. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1314117/pdf/11593850.pdf (Full comment)