large donner
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No but that is not the point. They might well be included in a study of joint pain. And studies of joint pain can be applied to people with RA, because people with RA fall into that category. We are not talking about doing a study of Canadian criteria CFS and slipping in some Oxford patients. The study announces itself as studying Oxford patients so its results can be applied to anyone who fits Oxford. It might turn out that within that there is a Canadian subgroup that in fact responds differently, but until that was shown the general rule would be legitimate to apply.
The point is that the BPS and PACE crowd do not "cast a wide net" therefore potentially catching multiple groups of a syndrome, they instead deliberately attempt to be specific in recruitment yet apply their "findings" broadly. That's unscientific and deceptive and they do it deliberately knowing they can shape policy because in the past the policy makers didn't look beneath their claims.
If they were to use varying criteria as you explained sometimes happens in RA that may be different but they deliberately use the same specific criteria in EVERY study. That in itself doesn't contribute to the scientific understanding especially when their criteria are designed to carry a political outcome not to answer a broader scientific question of something THEY themselves declared a syndrome .
If its political its not scientific.
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