Trial Report United States Veterans with comorbid chronic fatigue syndrome and chronic pain: do women differ from men?, 2024, Adamowicz

[Dolphin]

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/21641846.2024.2350301

Adamowicz, J. L., Thomas, E. B. K., Lund, B. C., Driscoll, M. A., & Hadlandsmyth, K. (2024). United States Veterans with comorbid chronic fatigue syndrome and chronic pain: do women differ from men? Fatigue: Biomedicine, Health & Behavior, 1–8. https://doi.org/10.1080/21641846.2024.2350301


ABSTRACT
Objective:
Examine group differences among women and men United States Veterans with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and chronic pain (CP).

Method:
Administrative data from the VA Corporate Data Warehouse were derived from a cohort that met criteria for CP in 2018. Differences across sociodemographic characteristics, psychiatric comorbidities, and pain-related healthcare utilization were examined. Analyses included group comparisons (chi-square tests for independence or independent samples t-tests) and effect size differences (Cohen’s d or Cramer’s V).

Results:
The period prevalence for comorbid CFS and CP was greater among women Veterans (1.20% vs. 0.61%). Women Veterans with CFS and CP were younger (d = 0.80), more likely to be Black, and less likely to be White (V = 0.13). Women Veterans with CFS and CP were more likely to have fibromyalgia (V = 0.23), headache (V = 0.24), or urogenital, pelvic, and menstrual pain (V = 0.14), and less likely to have neuropathy relative to men; they were also more likely to have depression (V = 0.15) or anxiety (V = 0.13).

Conclusions:
Comorbid CFS and CP are more prevalent among women Veterans relative to men. Group differences in pain clusters and psychiatric comorbidities may have implications for clinical offerings to women Veterans with these conditions.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic fatigue syndrome
• chronic pain
• military veterans
• gender differences

 

[rvallee]

Comorbid CFS and CP are more prevalent among women Veterans relative to men. Group differences in pain clusters and psychiatric comorbidities may have implications for clinical offerings to women Veterans with these conditions.

I assume that by "psychiatric comorbidities" they mean anxiety and depression. But those aren't co-morbidities, and that almost no one seems to bother making an effort at separating the overlapping questions and the fact that most answers scoring on either dimensions will be natural consequences of being ill is just absurd. The problem is not overlapping answers, it's overlapping questions. It's simply not valid. If this is what is meant by "psychiatric comorbidities" then the whole concept is entirely flawed, should never be used.

This is in the same category of absurd as finding that poor people frequent food banks more than rich people, and arguing that addressing food bank usage, including discouraging it, has implications to treat poverty. It's so absurd in its face, no one should seriously be able to argue this without seeing the obvious contradiction. And yet here we are.

 

[Trish]

Women Veterans with CFS and CP were more likely to have fibromyalgia (V = 0.23), headache (V = 0.24), or urogenital, pelvic, and menstrual pain (V = 0.14), and less likely to have neuropathy relative to men;

Well, what a surprise, women are more likely to have menstrual pain than men. Hold the front page.

 

[Arnie Pye]

they were also more likely to have depression (V = 0.15) or anxiety (V = 0.13)

This has been assumed to be true for female health for a couple of thousand years. Medical knowledge hasn't moved on in this respect since the first man came up with the idea.

 

[Maat]

Anyone changed their passwords lately?

 

[cfsandmore]

Medicine bullies women. I hope as more women become doctors the bullying will come to an end.