Comments on: Childhood Trauma Coudl Cause Chronic Fatigue Syndrome http://www.bloggernews.net/11833 High-quality English language analysis and editorial writing on the news. Sat, 06 Sep 2008 17:21:13 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.3.3 By: Lon http://www.bloggernews.net/11833#comment-369 Lon Sat, 11 Nov 2006 06:32:40 +0000 http://www.bloggernews.net/11833#comment-369 First, thanks to gwenc for posting this information. The more people who know about the seriousness of CFS, the more likely that there will be adequate research funding for the illness in the future. The title of the article is right on and the quotes from Drs. Klimas and Goodstein are great. They represent current mainstream thinking on the causes of CFS. However, there may be a need for a few clarifications. The title of this post "Childhood Trauma Could Cause Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" is correct, however, the first sentence may be a little misleading. For instance, one of the articles published 11/6/06 in the Archives of General Psychiatry states that "Our results also clearly demonstrate that not all cases of CFS have a history of childhood trauma," and that the study of 46 patients was "exploratory" and that results "should be considered as preliminary." Researchers found that CFS patients reported higher levels of childhood trauma compared to healthy controls. Although the authors concluded that childhood trauma increased the risk of CFS by a factor between 3 and 8, it should be noted that the possibility that children with the symptoms of CFS may be judged to be uncooperative or lazy if the illness is not recognized. These children may in fact experience the trauma because of their CFS. Also, the risk of many other diseases is increased by childhood trauma so an increase in CFS occurance would not be surprising. However, as the authors indicate, it would be premature to conclude that childhood trauma is a main cause of CFS. A second concern is that by linking stress and emotional instability (also in the first sentence) readers might infer that the stress referred to in the article means emotional stress such job or school pressures, etc. In fact, a series of articles published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier in the year indicates that the stresses often are viral infections, physical trauma such as automobile accidents, stress from over exertion, etc. The economic impact of $20,000/year/patient in lost earnings is important, particularly when combined with the CDC's conclusions that the groups with the highest incidence of CFS are low income and minority populations rather that the higher income groups as believed in the 1980's. The $9 billion per year was derived from the $20,000/year/patient number assuming 450,000 adult patients in the US. With current estimates of over a million patients, this number should be over $20 billion per year. Note that this does not include such things as medical costs, costs of disability payments, or economic loss to employers. Thanks again to gwenc for the original posting! First, thanks to gwenc for posting this information. The more people who know about the seriousness of CFS, the more likely that there will be adequate research funding for the illness in the future. The title of the article is right on and the quotes from Drs. Klimas and Goodstein are great. They represent current mainstream thinking on the causes of CFS.

However, there may be a need for a few clarifications. The title of this post “Childhood Trauma Could Cause Chronic Fatigue Syndrome” is correct, however, the first sentence may be a little misleading. For instance, one of the articles published 11/6/06 in the Archives of General Psychiatry states that “Our results also clearly demonstrate that not all cases of CFS have a history of childhood trauma,” and that the study of 46 patients was “exploratory” and that results “should be considered as preliminary.” Researchers found that CFS patients reported higher levels of childhood trauma compared to healthy controls. Although the authors concluded that childhood trauma increased the risk of CFS by a factor between 3 and 8, it should be noted that the possibility that children with the symptoms of CFS may be judged to be uncooperative or lazy if the illness is not recognized. These children may in fact experience the trauma because of their CFS. Also, the risk of many other diseases is increased by childhood trauma so an increase in CFS occurance would not be surprising. However, as the authors indicate, it would be premature to conclude that childhood trauma is a main cause of CFS.

A second concern is that by linking stress and emotional instability (also in the first sentence) readers might infer that the stress referred to in the article means emotional stress such job or school pressures, etc. In fact, a series of articles published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention earlier in the year indicates that the stresses often are viral infections, physical trauma such as automobile accidents, stress from over exertion, etc.

The economic impact of $20,000/year/patient in lost earnings is important, particularly when combined with the CDC’s conclusions that the groups with the highest incidence of CFS are low income and minority populations rather that the higher income groups as believed in the 1980’s. The $9 billion per year was derived from the $20,000/year/patient number assuming 450,000 adult patients in the US. With current estimates of over a million patients, this number should be over $20 billion per year. Note that this does not include such things as medical costs, costs of disability payments, or economic loss to employers.

Thanks again to gwenc for the original posting!

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