Article Index

Co-morbid conditions of all groups 

We were interested in the occurrence of co-morbid conditions in ME/CFS patients.

We asked not only if a person had had a certain condition, but whether

  • the condition had started and ended before the start of ME/CFS
  • started before ME/CFS but was still going on
  • started after ME/CFS but was resolved, or
  • started after ME/CFS and was still going on.

Unfortunately, I have still not had time to analyze the data to see if there were any significant occurrences of certain conditions after ME/CFS. So the following table will only give lifetime occurrences of the various conditions.

We did not include HHV-6 because the test for it had just been invented. We decided that very few patients would have been tested at that point.

I also regret that we did not distinguish between hypothyroid and hyperthyroid conditions. We also failed to ask about cancer.

It is important that the reader note the very high incidence of allergy in the significant-other group as well as the other two groups. 83. 7% of those reporting allergies in the long-term group had been formally tested and had at least one allergy documented. Similar high percentages of the atopics in the other two groups had had formal allergy testing with positive results.

Thus these were not just "self-diagnosed" or "imaginary" allergies, as some researchers insist must be the case. It is also clear from the table that the incidence of each condition was significantly less in the significant-other group compared to the two ME/CFS groups, and the incidence of fibromyalgia, major depression and cardiac arrhythmia were significantly higher in the long-term group compared to the short-term group. Lyme disease occurred significantly more often in the short-term group compared to the long-term group. (Note that the study took place before the existence of Chronic Lyme Disease was acknowledged. Thus the handful of participants who had had Lyme disease at one point in their lives may have been suffering from Chronic Lyme Disease instead of ME/CFS. There were so few subjects like this, that our results would not have been affected.)

 

Table 3.  Co-morbid Medical Conditions in All Groups

 

 

Co-morbid Condition

Long-term CFIDS

 

Short-term CFIDS

       Significant Other

 

 

(Lifetime Incidence)

%

 

%

 %

 

Allergies

            88.8

 

85.7

56.8***

 

Chicken pox/shingles

            81.9

 

75.0

64.6***

 

Fibromyalgia

            72.3*

 

           50.0*

2.9***

  Irritable bowel syndrome            71.2              70.4      15.3***

 

Chronic sinus infections

            60.7

 

           57.1

25.3***

 

Major depression

            58.9*

'

           37.0*

17.2***

 

Panic attacks

            56.7

 

           53.5

14.6***

 

Infectious mononucleosis

            48.9

 

           39.3

  8.6***

 

Anemia

            47.1

 

           35.1

  9.7***

  Chronic bladder infection             40.9              25.0       9.0***

 

Cardiac arrhythmia

            42.7*

 

           17.9**

  9.0***

 

Chronic bronchitis

            40.5

 

           39.3

17.4***

 

Herpes I/II

            39.3

 

           32.1

 7.9***

 

Thyroid problems

            32

 

            7.1

 7.9***

 

Phobias

            28.1

 

          17.7

  4.6***

 

Asthma

            26.5

 

          32.1

  8.6***

 

Raynaud's disease

            16.4

 

           7.1

   2.3 ***

 

Hepatitis                              

            13.6

 

          17.7

       6.4*

 

Suicide attempt

            12.0

 

            7.2

       3.9**

  Epilepsy

            12.0

 

0

    1.1 ***

 

Sjorgren's disease

              7.1

 

0

       0.6*

 

Lyme disease

              3.2*

 

          14.8*

    0***

 

*** p < .0001    ** p < .01         * p < .05