| Continuous variables | ME/CFSsa | ME/CFSmm | MS | HC | P-value* | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Median | IQR | Median | IQR | Median | IQR | Median | IQR | ||
| Age (years) | 46 | 32–51 | 43 | 34–52 | 51 | 32–52 | 44 | 32–52 | 0.002 |
| Index of multiple deprivation (ranking) | 18,883 | 12,463–24,921 | 16,873 | 11,177 −23,373 | 15,853 | 12,567–21,921 | 17,02 | 13,564–25,988 | 0.29 |
| Fatigue severity scale scores | 6.67 | 6.3–6.89 | 6.55 | 6.00–7.00 | 5.61 | 3.67–6.44 | 2.17 | 1.55–2.67 | 0.000 |
| BASELINE BLOOD TESTS RESULTS | |||||||||
| White blood cells (109/L) | 5.88 | 5.13–7.65 | 6.10 | 5.20–6.93 | 6.01 | 5.10–7.30 | 5.99 | 5.12–6.86 | 0.93 |
| Lymphocytes (109/L) | 1.78 | 1.57–2.03 | 1.91 | 1.60–2.31 | 1.81 | 1.49–2.15 | 1.82 | 1.52–2.21 | 0.15 |
| ESR (mm/h) | 5 | 2–10 | 7 | 5–12 | 5 | 2–8 | 5 | 2–8 | 0.012 |
ESR, Erythrocyte sedimentation rate; CMV, Cytomegalovirus; EBV, Epstein–Barr virus [combined results for Viral capsid antigen (VCA) and Epstein-Barr nuclear antigen (EBNA)]; HSV1, Herpes simplex virus 1; HSV2, Herpes simplex virus 2; VZV, varicella-zoster virus; HHV6, Human herpesvirus 6; ME/CFSsa, people with ME/CFS with severe clinical manifestations; ME/CFSmm, people with ME/CFS with mild/moderate manifestations; MS, people with multiple sclerosis; HC, people recruited as healthy controls.
*
P-values—from χ2 tests for categorical variables and Kruskal-Wallis test for continuous variables (which were non-normally distributed).