Table 1 Participant characteristics
Dutch database (n = 337) | US database (n = 252) | P-value | |
|---|---|---|---|
Sex, n (%) | 0.242 | ||
Male | 59 (17.5) | 31 (12.3) | |
Female | 276 (81.9) | 215 (85.3) | |
Other/I don’t want to say | 2 (0.6) | 6 (2.4) | |
Age, years | 55 (44–63) | 50 (38–58)# | < 0.001 |
BMI, kg/m2 | 23.9 (21.1–27.8) | – | |
Ethnicity, n (%) | 0.579 | ||
Black, African-American | 1 (0.3) | – | |
White | 327 (97.0) | 245 (97.2) | |
American Indian or Alaska Native | – | 1 (0.4) | |
Asian or Pacific Islander | 2 (0.6) | 3 (1.2) | |
Other | 7 (2.1) | 3 (1.2) | |
Marital status, n (%) | # | < 0.001 | |
Married or living with partner | 185 (54.9) | 121 (48.0) | |
Living alone | 127 (37.7) | 77 (30.6) | |
Widow(er)/divorced | 25 (7.4) | 54 (21.4) | |
Children, n (%) | 0.770 | ||
Yes | 159 (47.2) | 121 (48.0) | |
Education level, n (%)a | # | 0.001 | |
Low | 10 (3.0) | 10 (4.0) | |
Medium | 127 (37.7) | 62 (24.6) | |
High | 195 (57.9) | 178 (70.6) | |
Other/I don’t want to say | 5 (1.5) | 2 (0.8) | |
Current work status, n (%)b | # | < 0.001 | |
On disability | 215 (63.8) | 118 (46.8) | |
Student | 6 (1.8) | 15 (6.0) | |
Homemaker | 26 (7.7) | 13 (5.2) | |
Retired | 58 (17.2) | 34 (13.5) | |
Unemployed | 23 (6.8) | 35 (13.9) | |
Working part-time | 57 (16.9) | 39 (15.5) | |
Working full-time | 9 (2.7) | 20 (7.9) | |
Case definition, n (%)c | # | < 0.001 | |
Fukuda criteria | 302 (89.6) | 234 (92.9) | |
Canadian clinical ME/CFS criteria | 197 (58.5) | 198 (78.6) | |
International consensus criteria | 131 (38.9) | 162 (64.3) | |
Institute of medicine | 270 (80.1) | 226 (89.7) | |
Number of case definition, n (%)c | # | < 0.001 | |
0 | 16 (4.7) | 5 (2.1) | |
1 | 48 (14.2) | 10 (4.1) | |
2 | 65 (19.3) | 25 (10.3) | |
3 | 110 (32.6) | 52 (21.5) | |
4 | 98 (29.1) | 150 (62.0) | |