Use of medications by people with chronic fatigue syndrome and healthy persons: a population-based study of fatiguing illness in Georgia

Table 3 Adjusted odds ratios for associations between illness status and use of specific drug categories or supplements

Drug category	CFS versus Well		CFS versus ISF
	OR (95% CI)^a	p value	OR (95% CI)	p value
Muscle relaxants	undefined	0.000	2.76 (1.02–7.43)	0.045
Sedatives	2.49 (1.47–4.21)	0.0007	3.01 (1.49–6.11)	0.002
- Benzodiazepines	2.49 (1.29–4.80)	0.006	2.70 (1.22–6.00)	0.015
Antidepressants	2.47 (1.68–3.64)	< 0.0001	2.40 (1.42–4.04)	< 0.0001
Asthma medications	1.86 (0.94–3.67)	0.074	2.47 (0.94–6.47)	0.065
Anti-histamines	1.49 (1.09–2.03)	0.013	1.53 (0.94–2.50)	0.085
Cold/sinus	1.44 (1.07–1.93)	0.015	1.29 (0.80–2.08)	0.29
Anti-migraine	1.43 (0.75–2.73)	0.28	3.44 (1.06–11.10)	0.039
Anti-allergy	1.40 (1.05–1.88)	0.024	1.32 (0.82–2.13)	0.25
Pain relievers (includes NSAIDs and narcotics)	1.33 (1.00–1.77)	0.049	1.93 (1.20–3.11)	0.007
- Narcotic pain relievers	2.24 (1.32–3.80)	0.003	3.23 (1.55–6.75)	0.002
- Acetaminophen	1.68 (1.15–2.45)	0.007	0.52 (0.29–0.91)	0.02
-NSAIDs (aspirin excluded)	1.38 (1.02–1.85)	0.03	1.54 (0.96–2.48)	0.07
-NSAIDs (aspirin included)	1.05 (0.80–1.39)	0.71	1.35 (0.85–2.15)	0.20
- Aspirin (alone)	0.68 (0.47–0.99)	0.049	0.99 (0.47–2.06)	0.97
Gastrointestinal (all acid-reducing drugs)	1.67 (1.17–2.38)	0.005	2.17 (1.24–3.80)	0.007
Thyroid hormones (all, 31/501)	1.32 (0.79–2.18)	0.28	2.60 (1.03–6.57)	0.043
Antibiotics	1.26 (0.71–2.21)	0.43	0.88 (0.36–2.15)	0.79
Supplements	0.88 (0.66–1.17)	0.37	0.98 (0.61–1.58)	0.93
Cardiovascular drugs	0.86 (0.60–1.24)	0.42	1.08 (0.58–2.03)	0.81
Glucose-lowering (insulin and oral)	0.53 (0.08–1.71)	0.46	0.23 (0.03–1.80)	0.16

^a, CI, confidence interval. Odds ratios were adjusted for confounding factors (age, BMI, household income) and sex and geographic area, if indicated.
Note. Results are arranged in descending order of odds ratios for use of major drug categories by the CFS group vs. the Well group. Right justified in the first column are drugs (individual drugs or sub-categories) from the preceding major drug category above (left justified). Supplements are included in the table for completeness.
Values of the Hosmer-Lemeshow goodness of fit test ranged from 0.16 to 0.97 (values greater than >0.05 reflect good model fit, higher values reflect better fit); individual values are presented in a detailed version of this table available as an additional file.

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