The impact of CFS/ME on employment and productivity in the UK: a cross-sectional study based on the CFS/ME national outcomes database

Table 2 Associations of CFS/ME patient characteristics with discontinuation of employment: analyses based on patients with complete data for all variables in table (N = 1,397 of whom 641 (45.9%) currently employed, 756 (54.1%) discontinued employment)

Variable*	Partially-adjusted odds ratio** (95% CI)	P-value	Fully-adjusted odds ratio*** (95% CI)	P-value
10-year age group	1.31 (1.19, 1.44)	< 0.001	1.16 (1.05, 1.29)	0.005
Sex (female vs male)	0.76 (0.59, 0.98)	0.03	0.62 (0.46, 0.82)	0.001
Duration of illness (years)	1.03 (1.01, 1.05)	0.003	1.01 (0.99, 1.03)	0.36
Chalder Fatigue	1.20 (1.12, 1.29)	< 0.001	1.02 (0.93, 1.11)	0.68
SF-36 (physical function)	0.70 (0.66, 0.74)	< 0.001	0.71 (0.67, 0.76)	< 0.001
HADS anxiety	1.04 (1.00, 1.09)	0.06	0.98 (0.92, 1.04)	0.42
HADS depression	1.18 (0.98, 1.25)	0.06	1.05 (0.98, 1.14)	0.16
Visual Analogue Pain	1.12 (1.08, 1.17)	< 0.001	1.00 (0.96, 1.05)	0.84

* Chalder Fatigue, SF-36, HADS, and Visual Analogue Pain measures were re-scaled to range from 0 to 10. For SF-36, odds ratio < 1 indicates that higher levels of disability are positively associated with discontinuation of employment.
** Adjusted only for centre and year of assessment (for continuous measures, odds ratio is per unit increase)
*** Adjusted for centre, year of assessment and all variables in table (for continuous measures, odds ratio is per unit increase)

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