Comment on: General practitioners’ experience of the chronic fatigue syndrome. [Br J Gen Pract. 1991]
Sir, Ho-Yen and McNamara give an interesting account of general practitioners’ experience of the chronic fatigue syndrome (August Journal, p.324). However, many of the conclusions which they draw are not supported by their study.
The problem lies in the method by which cases were identified. It seems unlikely that the doctors who responded to the questionnaire would have screened every patient on their practice lists for the condition. Even to screen only those patients who attended the surgery would have been a massive undertaking. There is no evidence that the practices involved kept a case register for this illness. I presume therefore that the cases reported were identified from memory by the doctors who responded to the survey. Thus, for patients who meet the criteria for this illness to be identified as a ‘case’ they must: decide that they are ill, decide to visit the doctor, be correctly identified as a case by the general practitioner and leave such an impression on the doctor’s mind as to be easily recalled later. It is very unlikely that, having passed through such a selection procedure, the cases identified would represent either the true number or display the typical characteristics of patients with this condition in the general population.
You can read the rest of this comment here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1371804/pdf/brjgenprac00062-0042b.pdf
Source: Plummer WP. Chronic fatigue syndrome. Br J Gen Pract. 1991 Nov;41(352):480. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1371804/