IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0132421.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Health-Related Quality of Life for Patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)

Author

Listed:
  • Michael Falk Hvidberg
  • Louise Schouborg Brinth
  • Anne V Olesen
  • Karin D Petersen
  • Lars Ehlers

Abstract

Introduction: Myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)/chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a common, severe condition affecting 0.2 to 0.4 per cent of the population. Even so, no recent international EQ-5D based health-related quality of life (HRQoL) estimates exist for ME/CFS patients. The main purpose of this study was to estimate HRQoL scores using the EQ-5D-3L with Danish time trade-off tariffs. Secondary, the aims were to explore whether the results are not influenced by other conditions using regression, to compare the estimates to 20 other conditions and finally to present ME/CFS patient characteristics for use in clinical practice. Material and methods: All members of the Danish ME/CFS Patient Association in 2013 (n=319) were asked to fill out a questionnaire including the EQ-5D-3L. From these, 105 ME/CFS patients were identified and gave valid responses. Unadjusted EQ-5D-3L means were calculated and compared to the population mean as well as to the mean of 20 other conditions. Furthermore, adjusted estimates were calculated using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression, adjusting for gender, age, education, and co-morbidity of 18 self-reported conditions. Data from the North Denmark Health Profile 2010 was used as population reference in the regression analysis (n=23,392). Results: The unadjusted EQ-5D-3L mean of ME/CFS was 0.47 [0.41–0.53] compared to a population mean of 0.85 [0.84–0.86]. The OLS regression estimated a disutility of -0.29 [-0.21;-0.34] for ME/CFS patients in this study. The characteristics of ME/CFS patients are different from the population with respect to gender, relationship, employment etc. Conclusion: The EQ-5D-3L-based HRQoL of ME/CFS is significantly lower than the population mean and the lowest of all the compared conditions. The adjusted analysis confirms that poor HRQoL of ME/CFS is distinctly different from and not a proxy of the other included conditions. However, further studies are needed to exclude the possible selection bias of the current study.

Suggested Citation

  • Michael Falk Hvidberg & Louise Schouborg Brinth & Anne V Olesen & Karin D Petersen & Lars Ehlers, 2015. "The Health-Related Quality of Life for Patients with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS)," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 10(7), pages 1-16, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0132421
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0132421
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0132421
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0132421&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0132421?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Patrick W. Sullivan & Vahram Ghushchyan, 2006. "Preference-Based EQ-5D Index Scores for Chronic Conditions in the United States," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 26(4), pages 410-420, July.
    2. Patrick Royston, 2004. "Multiple imputation of missing values," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(3), pages 227-241, September.
    3. Patrick W. Sullivan & Julia F. Slejko & Mark J. Sculpher & Vahram Ghushchyan, 2011. "Catalogue of EQ-5D Scores for the United Kingdom," Medical Decision Making, , vol. 31(6), pages 800-804, November.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Scoles, Brooke & Nicodemo, Catia, 2022. "Doctors’ attitudes toward specific medical conditions," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 182-199.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Harald Schoen, 2008. "Identity, Instrumental Self-Interest and Institutional Evaluations," European Union Politics, , vol. 9(1), pages 5-29, March.
    2. Julia S. Goldberg, 2011. "Identity Salience and Involvement among Resident and Nonresident Fathers," Working Papers 1323, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    3. Hilde Coffe & Catherine Bolzendahl, 2011. "Gender Gaps in Political Participation Across Sub-Saharan African Nations," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 102(2), pages 245-264, June.
    4. Ronald Mincy & Jennifer Hill & Marilyn Sinkewicz, 2009. "Marriage: Cause or mere indicator of future earnings growth?," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(3), pages 417-439.
    5. John Bound & Michael F. Lovenheim & Sarah Turner, 2010. "Why Have College Completion Rates Declined? An Analysis of Changing Student Preparation and Collegiate Resources," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 2(3), pages 129-157, July.
    6. von Hinke Kessler Scholder S, 2009. "Genetic Markers as Instrumental Variables: An Application to Child Fat Mass and Academic Achievement," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/25, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    7. Natalia Krüger & Axel McCallum & Víctor Volman, 2020. "Segregación escolar por nivel socioeconómico: disparidades entre las provincias argentinas," Asociación Argentina de Economía Política: Working Papers 4362, Asociación Argentina de Economía Política.
    8. Anna K Stuck & Marie Méan & Andreas Limacher & Marc Righini & Kurt Jaeger & Hans-Jürg Beer & Joseph Osterwalder & Beat Frauchiger & Christian M Matter & Nils Kucher & Michael Egloff & Markus Aschwande, 2014. "The Adherence to Initial Processes of Care in Elderly Patients with Acute Venous Thromboembolism," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 9(7), pages 1-7, July.
    9. Ethan T. Hunt & Bridget Armstrong & Brie M. Turner-McGrievy & Michael W. Beets & Robert G. Weaver, 2021. "Differences by School Location in Summer and School Monthly Weight Change: Findings from a Nationally Representative Sample," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(21), pages 1-12, November.
    10. repec:pri:crcwel:wp12-10-ff is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Shoham, David A. & Vupputuri, Suma & Kaufman, Jay S. & Kshirsagar, Abhijit V. & Diez Roux, Ana V. & Coresh, Josef & Heiss, Gerardo, 2008. "Kidney disease and the cumulative burden of life course socioeconomic conditions: The Atherosclerosis Risk in Communities (ARIC) Study," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 67(8), pages 1311-1320, October.
    12. Elizabeth Washbrook & Paul Gregg & Carol Propper, 2014. "A decomposition analysis of the relationship between parental income and multiple child outcomes," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 177(4), pages 757-782, October.
    13. Jennifer March Augustine, 2016. "Exploring New Life Course Patterns of Mother’s Continuing Secondary and College Education," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 35(6), pages 727-755, December.
    14. Robin S. H�gn�s & Marcia J. Carlson, 2009. "Intergenerational Relationships and Union Stability in Fragile Families," Working Papers 1174, Princeton University, School of Public and International Affairs, Center for Research on Child Wellbeing..
    15. Knott, R. & Lorgelly, P. & Black, N. & Hollingsworth, B., 2016. "Differential item functioning in the EQ-5D: An exploratory analysis using anchoring vignettes," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 16/14, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    16. Zsuzsa Blasko & Artur Pokropek & Joanna Sikora, 2018. "Science career plans of adolescents: patterns, trends and gender divides," JRC Research Reports JRC109135, Joint Research Centre.
    17. Sonia Bhalotra & Samantha Rawlings, 2013. "Gradients of the Intergenerational Transmission of Health in Developing Countries," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(2), pages 660-672, May.
    18. Martine Audibert & Yong He & Jacky Mathonnat, 2013. "Two-Period Comparison of Healthcare Demand with Income Growth and Population Aging in Rural China: Implications for Adjustment of the Healthcare Supply and Development," Working Papers halshs-00846088, HAL.
    19. Stoddard, Pamela & Handley, Margaret A. & Vargas Bustamante, Arturo & Schillinger, Dean, 2011. "The influence of indigenous status and community indigenous composition on obesity and diabetes among Mexican adults," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 73(11), pages 1635-1643.
    20. Manuel S. González Canché, 2017. "Financial Benefits of Rapid Student Loan Repayment: An Analytic Framework Employing Two Decades of Data," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 671(1), pages 154-182, May.
    21. Sandner, Malte & Jungmann, Tanja, 2017. "Gender-specific effects of early childhood intervention: Evidence from a randomized controlled trial," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 59-78.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0132421. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.