Melissa
Kaplan's
Chronic Neuroimmune Diseases
Information on CFS, FM, MCS, Lyme Disease, Thyroid, and more...
Last updated
January 1, 2014
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Melissa
Kaplan's |
CFS Far More Common Than AIDS, HIV Infection, or Lung Cancer
Press Release: The CFIDS Association of America,
| Cambridge,
Mass., October 10, 1998 — In a study to be released today, U.S. Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) researchers have found that chronic
fatigue syndrome (CFS)[1] is a far greater public health problem than previously
known.
This study, the most extensive of its kind, estimated the overall prevalence of CFS at 183 cases per 100,000 in persons ages 18-69. As in other studies, the highest rates of CFS were found among Caucasian women, in which the prevalence nearly doubled to 340 per 100,000. In women overall, the prevalence was 303 per 100,000; in men overall, 53 per 100,000. Dr. William C. Reeves, chief of the CDC branch responsible for the study, stated, "This study indicates that CFS affects women and men of all racial and ethnic groups, as well as adolescents. However, white women have the greatest risk for disease and this must be taken into account in planning allocation of health resources and searching for risk factors." By examining the prevalence of other common women's diseases, the CDC researchers concluded that CFS is a serious women's public health concern. "To put this into perspective, CFS is three times more common than HIV infection in women (125/100,000), 25 times the rate of AIDS among women (12/100,000), and is considerably higher than a woman's lifetime risk of getting lung cancer (63/100,000)," Reeves said. This study was unique in that nearly 25% of the population of Sedgwick County, Kan. was surveyed and full medical evaluations were performed on those who reported the symptoms of CFS by telephone interview. Sedgwick County (Wichita) was chosen because of its demographic similarity to the U.S. as a whole. Few of the patients identified as having CFS carried that diagnosis already and most were not under the care of a physician. This finding helps explain the differences between the rates of CFS reported in this study and earlier CDC estimates that resulted from surveying physicians about the number of CFS patients in their practices. The current CFS definition[2] requires that all other possible causes of the symptoms are excluded before the diagnosis is made. All persons who met the case definition for CFS, but also had any lifetime history of melancholic depression were excluded — even if that depression occurred years before the onset of CFS or resulted from the stresses of having a chronic, often disabling illness. When persons with melancholic depression and CFS were included in the numbers, the rates jumped to 248 per 100,000 overall; 404 per 100,000 in women of all races; and 458 per 100,000 in white women. According to Dr. Reeves, "We're looking at the exclusion for melancholic depression much more closely now. Further understanding of these data will allow us to make recommendations about future case definitions." Data from this study were presented Oct. 10 at The American Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome international research conference and again Oct. 13 at The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Coordinating Committee meeting. Both meetings were held in Cambridge, Mass. Symptoms of CFS include debilitating fatigue, impairment of short-term memory or concentration, sore throat, tender lymph nodes, muscle and joint pain, headaches, unrefreshing sleep, and fatigue lasting more than 24 hours following exertion. To be diagnosed with CFS, a person must have had these symptoms for more than six months and cannot have any other medical explanation for them. Many CFS patients are unable to continue holding jobs, attending school or caring for family members because of the disease. Please see attached "Executive Summary" for more information about the CDC study. [1.] CFS is also known as chronic fatigue and immune dysfunction syndrome (CFIDS) and myalgic encelphalomyelitis (M.E.) [2.] Fukuda K, et al: "CFS: A Comprehensive Approach to its Definition and Study," Annals of Internal Medicine, 12/15/94.
Random-Digit-Dialing
Survey of Fatiguing Illness in Wichita (Sedgwick County), KS U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Infectious Diseases Division of Viral and Rickettsial Diseases, Viral Exanthems and Herpesvirus Branch Michele Reyes, Rosane Nisenbaum, David Hoaglin, William C. Reeves Primary purpose of study: To determine the prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and fatiguing illness in Wichita, KS. Secondary purposes: 1) To determine the prevalence of prolonged fatigue (>1 month) (PF), chronic fatigue (> 6 months)(CF), and chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and 2) to compare these CFS prevalence estimates with other studies, specifically the CDC 4-City Physician-Based Surveillance (1989 -1993) where Wichita was one of the study sites. In this latter study, the overall prevalence of CFS was 6.4/100,000 and was highest in white women, 10.8/100,000. Methods: This study was a population-based, cross-sectional, random-digit-dialing survey of residents in Sedgwick County (Wichita). The study was conducted in 3 phases: 1. Screener interview of households 2. Detailed telephone interview of all individuals with fatigue > 1 month and a number of non fatigued persons. 3. Clinical evaluation of persons with CFS-like illness to determine CFS classification Results: We contacted 34,018 households representing 90,319 residents with phones (about ¼ of the Wichita population) and 56,154 persons aged 18-69 years old. Overall prevalence estimates per 100,000 persons 18-69 years old:
Prevalence estimates in women per 100,000:
Related Articles A Community-Based Study of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
For
more information: |
http://www.anapsid.org/cnd/diagnosis/cfsfreqs.html
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