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Research Article: The role of disease history score in the association between depression history and current ME/CFS among US adults

Date Published: 2026-07-21

Abstract:
To explore the role of disease history score in the association between depression history and current myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) among US adults from 2021 to 2023. This study derived data from the 2021 to 2023 US National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), a nationally representative cross-sectional survey. Current ME/CFS was defined using self-reported NHIS questions on a prior clinician diagnosis of ME/CFS and whether participants still had the condition. A depression history was associated with higher odds of current ME/CFS (OR: 1.61, 95% CI: 1.12–2.32). A positive non-linear association between the disease history score and current ME/CFS was identified (OR: 2.49, 95% CI: 1.73–3.60). Above the threshold of ?2.03, each unit increment in the disease history score was associated with 85% higher odds of current ME/CFS. No significant multiplicative or additive interaction was detected between the disease history score category and depression history in relation to current ME/CFS. In exploratory indirect association analyses, the disease history score and its category accounted for 47.2%/22.9 and 44.4%/24.1% of the association between depression history and current ME/CFS in the overall and female populations, respectively. The disease history score accounted for 59.2 and 30.5% of the depression-related association with current ME/CFS in the 50–64?years and 65?+?years groups, respectively. Adding the disease history score to the model did not substantially improve reclassification or discriminatory performance for identifying current ME/CFS. The population attributable fraction (PAF) associated with depression history for current ME/CFS was higher than that associated with the disease history score category. Sensitivity analyses yielded similar results. The disease history score may partly explain the association between depression history and current ME/CFS status, especially among women and adults aged 50?years or older. Depression history was more strongly associated with current ME/CFS than increased multimorbidity burden. These findings support the potential relevance of depression history and multimorbidity burden in identifying adults with current ME/CFS, although longitudinal studies are needed to clarify temporal relationships.

Introduction:
Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a distinct chronic neurologic disorder, is characterized by over 6?months of fatigue that is unimproved by rest ( 1 ). ME/CFS has an average prevalence of 1.4%, with women being nearly 1.5- to 2-fold more frequently affected than men ( 2 ). ME/CFS presents with many symptoms, such as impaired memory, unrefreshing sleep, headache, and muscle pain ( 3 ). There is a significant overlap between ME/CFS and other chronic diseases ( 4 ). Due to the elusive…

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