Chronic fatigue syndrome is more powerful than many people think: according to a data first published, about 3.3 million people in the United States suffer from it.
According to Dr. Elizabeth Hunger, director of the Chronic Viral Infections Division at the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, told The Associated Press that the condition is apparently "not a rare disease" and is partly due to the involvement of people with long COVID. Dr. Unger is the report author for the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
In fact, the number may be even higher, as experts believe that only a small percentage of people with chronic fatigue syndrome are eventually diagnosed, says Dr. Daniel Crowe, director of the Center for Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research at the University of Michigan.
In the U.S., it has never become a clinical epidemic diagnosis because no drug has been approved against it," he told the Associated Press, "and there are no ** guidelines for it." ”
Further blurring the picture, the CDC** said that the statistics may also include some patients with long COVID who are experiencing chronic fatigue.
Long COVID is defined as a chronic health problem that lasts for weeks, months, or years after COVID infection. Symptoms can vary from person to person, but patients often complain of the same symptoms that people with chronic fatigue syndrome experience.
We think it's the same disease," Braden Yerman, a specialist at Batman Horn Center in Salt Lake City, told The Associated Press. He also added that doctors are more receptive to long COVID and are diagnosed faster.
At the same time, chronic fatigue syndrome usually involves at least half a year of severe fatigue, which is not relieved by rest. Patients also report pain, brain fog, and other symptoms that may worsen during sports, work, or other activities. There is currently no test or scan that can definitively diagnose this condition, and there is no ** method.
Studies have shown that this is the result of a long-term overreaction of the body to an infection or other shock to the immune system.
The new survey was released on Dec. 8 as a NCHS data brief, based on a 2021 and 2022 survey of 5Survey of 70,000 U.S. adults. All survey respondents were asked if they had been told by a doctor or other health care professional that they had chronic fatigue syndrome (medically known as muscular fatigue encephalomyelitis) and whether they still had the condition. There are about 13% answered "yes" to both questions.
That means about 3.3 million U.S. adults are infected with the virus, according to the CDC**.
White women are more likely to develop the condition than men and other racial and ethnic groups.
However, these findings also challenge the notion that chronic fatigue syndrome is a disease of wealthy Caucasian women.
The gap between women and men is smaller than previously thought in studies, as is the gap between whites and blacks. The survey also found that the proportion of poor people who say they are doing well is higher than that of the wealthy.
"Long-standing misconceptions may stem from the fact that patients who receive traditional diagnoses and ** tend to have easier access to health care and may be more believed when they claim fatigue, persistent fatigue, and inability to work," Yerman said.
One limitation of the findings is that the report relied on the patient's memory and did not verify their diagnosis through medical records.
More information. To learn more about chronic fatigue syndrome, visit the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
*: NCHS Data Brief, 8 December 2023;Associated press.
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