Depressive and anxiety symptoms in current, previous, and no history of ME/CFS: NHIS 2022 analysis 2024 Sirotiak et al

Abstract

Purpose
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms. Psychological symptoms are predisposing factors for, as well as symptoms of, ME/CFS. Recovery from ME/CFS is poorly understood and heterogenous, and it is unclear how psychological symptoms may change with recovery. The aim of this study was to examine the associations of depressive and anxious symptoms among individuals with current, previous, and no history of ME/CFS.

Methods
National Health Interview Survey 2022 data were analyzed to assess ME/CFS status, as well as anxiety and depression burden. Adults (unweighted N = 27,651) in the United States reported sociodemographic and health behavior characteristics, with 453 adults reporting current ME/CFS, while 119 reported previous ME/CFS. Sample weights and variance estimation variables were implemented. Multivariable linear regression models were used to analyze the associations between ME/CFS status and anxiety and depression severity after adjusting for sociodemographic and health behavior variables.

Results
Participants were on average 48.1 years of age, and most identified as female (51.3%), white (76.6%), and not Hispanic or Latine (82.8%). Current and previous ME/CFS were associated with anxiety and depressive symptoms compared to individuals with no history of ME/CFS. Clinically significant levels of anxiety and depressive symptoms were substantial for individuals with current (37.6%; 49.0%) and previous (26.5%; 33.4%) ME/CFS compared to individuals with no history of ME/CFS (6.1%; 6.7%).

Conclusion
ME/CFS, regardless of current presence, was related to significantly greater anxiety and depressive symptom burden.

Paywall, https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11136-024-03854-2

 

I’m guessing this study tells us absolutely nothing because they used anxiety and depression questionnaires that have ME symptoms?

 

To break ground on criticising this, I don't like it. It lacks perspicacity and serves the psychology career agenda as well as the insurance lobby and expedient governmental ignorance.

This I find hard to believe but if true suggests touting for business from the above in a manner akin to the SMC or the usual suspects at or formerly of King's College London.

I dont feel inclined to dignify this by treating it as science but I would like to offer a few critical comments.

NHIS (National Health Interview Survey) data is based on self reporting, so not even expert diagnosis but self assessment plus any diagnosis represented by the interviewee.

First, to what extent is slow onset ME initially misdiagnosed as depressive illness? To what extent is ME confounded with depression even by patients when they are not the same because the medical profession have not been taught to distinguish them and so neither have the patients who rely on them and much online literature reflects this?

I know for a fact my GP, when diagnosing me in 1996 at my instigation after ten years undiagnosed, felt it necessary to diagnose "ME/CFS and depressive illness" as though the two were one syndrome when I presented no depressive symptoms at all. I also think he probably did so to try to give me more credibility because at the time ME had such low credibility and also to defend his own diagnosis against criticism. I went along with it for a few years because I was a complete ingenu and knew no better but now I do. This kind of bamboozlement has to be opposed if we are going to get to the truth about ME.

Association is not proof of cause of course and I suspect a proportion of these "symptoms" are probably ambiguous at least in the hands of these psychologists.

OK thats it for today!

 

The real, logical, conclusion from studies like this is that standard assessments for anxiety and depression, by asking about common generic symptoms, actually does not assess those reliably. The fact that there are no tests for either only reinforces this problem. Which is known. Again with the overlapping questions resulting in the appearance of overlapping answers. What's most absurd here is the complete lack of questioning about this. It's not even considered that this can be an issue. In fact it's literally abused to perpetuate the same nonsense.

It's also well-known that ME/CFS are routinely miscategorized precisely this way. This should lead to even greater caution. But instead it leads to the opposite. Past mistakes are literally used to justify current and future mistakes.

It's the complete lack of awareness that is the hardest to understand. Even people of below average intelligence can easily see those problems. Which can only mean that it's done on purpose, and that no one objects to it, because they can always justify their new mistakes with the fact that old mistakes were systematically made.

It's totally insane that we are still stuck at the exact same place as a century ago. Absolutely nothing is learned. Any individual so incapable of learning basic things would be considered lacking intelligence.

 

These are the same NHIS surveys as discussed here:
https://www.s4me.info/threads/cdc-d...ahratian-unger-et-al.36480/page-3#post-566136

This paper analyses the 2022 survey but the 2023 data is already available (and analysed in the thread above). The self-reported CFS or ME diagnoses are probably unreliable.

Do not have access to the paper but the 2022 survey used the PHQ-8 for depression and GAD-7 for anxiety. The PHQ-8 seems especially problematic with questions such as feeling tired, trouble with sleeping, trouble concentrating that are core ME/CFS symptoms.





Source: https://ftp.cdc.gov/pub/Health_Statistics/NCHS/Dataset_Documentation/NHIS/2022/adult-summary.pdf