Table 2.
Study population characteristics. BMI—body mass index, FM—fibromyalgia, HC—heathy controls, IQR—interquartile range, ME/CFS—myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.
| Subject Characteristics | ME/CFS(+)FM (n = 11) | ME/CFS(−)FM (n = 11) | HC (n = 11) | p-Values 1 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ME/CFS(+)FM vs. HC | ME/CFS(−)FM vs. HC | |||||
| Gender | Female | 8 | 9 | 8 | 1.000 | 0.655 |
| Male | 3 | 2 | 3 | |||
| Age | Median (IQR) | 38.0 (31.0–47.0) | 30.0 (27.0–45.0) | 33.0 (27.0–49.0) 1 | 0.519 | 0.562 |
| BMI | Median (IQR) | 18.8 (17.9–19.6) | 23.8 (19.8–32.3) | 21.4 (19.3–25.4) | 0.010 | 0.193 |
| Illness Duration (years) | Median (IQR) | 6.0 (3.0–21.5) | 7.0 (6.0–10.5) | N/A | N/A | |
| Onset of disease | Infection-triggered | 4 | 8 | N/A | N/A | |
| Severe stress(-es)-triggered | 5 | 2 | ||||
1—For categorial variable, p-values were derived from Chi-squared test; for continuous variables, p-values were derived from Mann–Whitney U test.