This Article  • Full text  • PDF  • Send to a friend  • Save in My Folder  • Save to citation manager  • Permissions  Citing Articles  • Citation map  • Contact me when this article is cited  Related Content  • Related article  • Similar articles in JAMA

	Since this article does not have an abstract, we have provided the first 150 words of the full text and any section headings.

To the Editor: Dr Seltzer and colleagues¹ report that 69% of patients with Lyme disease (LD) had 1 or more persisting symptom since acquiring the disease but conclude that this outcome was no different from that of control patients. In an earlier article,² some of the same authors reported that less than 5% of patients with LD had any long-term sequelae but now report that "only" 19% of patients have LD-associated symptoms.

There are a number of methodological problems that detract from the validity of the current study by Seltzer at al. First, a telephone interview is not an appropriate means to obtain information about subjective symptoms; patients must complete the Medical Outcomes Study 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36) and other questionnaires on their own for the information to be valid. Second, additional, well-validated questionnaires regarding fatigue, pain, and memory should have been used to better assess these symptoms; there . . . [Full Text of this Article]

RELATED ARTICLE

Long-term Outcomes of Persons With Lyme Disease
Elyse G. Seltzer, Michael A. Gerber, Matthew L. Cartter, Kimberly Freudigman, and Eugene D. Shapiro
JAMA. 2000;283(5):609-616.
ABSTRACT | FULL TEXT