Journal of IiME Volume 1 Issue 1 Dr. Leonard Jason (continued) Ware, 1988) was completed by all participants. The SF-36 is a 36-item questionnaire that in the past assesses individuals’ self- report on physical and emotional health currently, four weeks, and compared to the same time last year. The SF-36 has eight subscales, and one reported health transition score. Two composite scores are available for the SF36, the Physical Component Summary (PCS) and the Mental Component Summary (MCS). Internal consistency coefficients range from .89 -.94 for the PCS, and .84 -.91 for the MCS across age, gender, race, education, medical diagnosis, and disease severity. The current study used these summary scales to determine differences in physical health, and mental health (Ware, Kosinski & Keller, 1994). Results Initial analyses were conducted to determine if any significant differences existed between the control and the entire CFS group on sociodemographic variables. There was only one significant difference, which occurred for gender. Therefore, gender was run as a covariate in all subsequent analyses. Subgroup Differences for Physical and Mental Disability To consider the relationship between subgroup membership and reported physical disability, an ANCOVA was run with subgroup as the independent variable, PCS as the dependent variable, and gender as a covariate. Analyses indicated that significant differences could be found between the subgroups on the PCS (p < .01). Least Significant Difference post hoc analyses indicated that all three CFS subgroups reported significantly higher levels of physical disability than the Control group (M = 56.1). The Other group reported significantly higher levels of physical disability when compared to the Inflammatory group (Ms = 29.2 vs 39.2, respectively), but it was not significantly different from the Infectious (M = 34.7) group. Next, an ANCOVA was conducted with a subgroup as the independent variable, MCS (a measure of mental disability) as the dependent variable, and gender as the covariate. Analyses indicated that significant differences did exist between the subgroups for the MCS variable (p < .01). Following the significant omnibus test, post hoc analyses indicated that the Inflammatory group had significantly greater mental disability compared to the control group (Ms = 36.5 vs 50.8, respectively), but was not significantly different from the Other (M = 43.6) or Infectious (M = 39.7) groups. Invest in ME Charity Nr 1114035 Relationships between Subgroups and Psychiatric Diagnoses To attempt to understand the relationships that might exist between subgroups and psychiatric diagnoses, logistic regressions were conducted considering subgroups as the independent variables (e.g., Other, Infectious, Inflammatory, and Control) and one psychiatric diagnosis per logistic regression (with the following dependent variables in separate analyses: current depression, current anxiety, and current other psychiatric diagnosis). No significant differences were found among the subgroups and the presence of depression, anxiety disorder, or other psychiatric diagnosis. Because prior studies have indicated that the CFS groups have significantly higher rates of current and lifetime psychiatric co morbidity, the analyses above were performed on current and any lifetime psychiatric diagnoses. Two logistic regressions used current psychiatric diagnosis and lifetime psychiatric diagnosis as dependent variables. The odds that an individual in the Infectious group also had a current psychiatric diagnosis were 6.13 times higher when compared to individuals in the control group. The odds that individuals in the inflammatory group had a current psychiatric diagnosis were 12.65 times higher when compared to control group members. The second logistic regression considered lifetime psychiatric diagnosis of any kind between membership in one of the subgroups, and membership in the control group. Analyses indicated that the odds that individuals in the inflammatory group had a psychiatric diagnosis at some time in their lives were 18.66 times higher when compared to individuals in the control group. Ethnic Differences Prior to sub grouping, no significant differences existed between the control and CFS groups on ethnicity. However, when examining the three subgroups separately with the control group, chi square analysis indicated that significant differences did exist between the four groups [χ2 (3, N = 59) = 10.00, p = .019]. The Infectious group (91% minority, 9% Caucasian) were significantly more likely to be of minority status than the Other (32% minority, 67% Caucasian) and control (37% minority, 63% Caucasian) groups, but they were not significantly different from the Inflammatory (56% minority, 44% Caucasian) group. (continued page13) www.investinme.org 12
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