Comment in: Chronic fatigue syndrome and myalgic encephalomyelitis. [BMJ. 1994]
Comment on: Longitudinal study of outcome of chronic fatigue syndrome. [BMJ. 1994]
Editor,-In concluding that psychological factors are more important than immunological ones in determining the long term outcome of myalgic encephalomyelitis or the chronic fatigue syndrome Andrew Wilson and colleagues seem overconfident of the validity of their findings. Although the use of self rated measures of outcome is necessary, the validity of the investigators’ treatment of such data is questionable. For example, the five point self rated global illness outcome was dichotomised such that an original response of “not improved at all” was recorded to “worsened”-a decision the investigators fail to justify. It is also dubious whether patients’ recall of their own premorbid psychological state is accurate, given that the average onset was 9 years before recall and the finding that memory of an event is affected by subsequent events.
You can read the rest of this comment here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2540179/pdf/bmj00440-0053a.pdf
Source: Blatch C, Blatt T. Chronic fatigue syndrome. Role of psychological factors overemphasised. BMJ. 1994 May 14;308(6939):1297. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2540179/