United States: On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) released the first national-level estimate of how many US adults have chronic fatigue syndrome. According to the reports, the number touched the mark of 3.3 million. This figure appeared to be higher than what the previous studies reported, and the number is likely boosted by some of the patients with long-term COVID-19.
The new CDC report is based on a survey of 57,000 US adults in 2021 and 2022. The participants were also asked whether a doctor or any healthcare person had ever noted that they had myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome. Approximately 1.3 percent gave a positive answer to both questions asked, as per the report by news agency AP.
About Chronic Fatigue
Six months of extreme tiredness that does not improve with bed rest defines chronic fatigue. The patients also complain of pain, brain fog, and other symptoms that can aggravate after exercise, work, or other activities.
There is no treatment and no way to have a quick test or scan to diagnose it early. Doctors have not been able to specify the definitive cause. However, research suggests it is a body’s prolonged overreaction to an infection or other attack on the immune system.
How is it linked to long COVID-19?
Long COVID is broadly defined as any persistent health condition following an acute COVID-19 infection for weeks, months, or even years. Patients experience different symptoms. However, those resembling chronic fatigue syndrome occur in some patients.
CDC officials say that the count likely includes some patients with long-term COVID-19 who were suffering from prolonged exhaustion.
Dr Brayden Yellman, a specialist at the Bateman Horne Center in Salt Lake City, Utah, said, “We think it’s the same illness. But long COVID is more widely accepted by doctors, and is being diagnosed much more quickly.”
“When I go to the ER or to another doctor’s visit, instead of saying I have chronic fatigue syndrome, I usually say I have long COVID,” said Powell, one of Yellman’s patients and he continued by saying, “And I am believed almost immediately,” AP News reported.
Chronic fatigue history and more related findings
The condition rose to prominence about 40 years ago when a large number of cases were reported in Incline Village, Nevada, and Lyndonville, New York. At that time, some doctors dismissed it as psychosomatic and called it “yuppie flu.” Some physicians still hold that opinion, as told by some experts and patients, as per AP news reports.
The older studies suggested that the syndrome was more common in women than men and in white people compared with some other racial and ethnic groups.
The new findings contradicted the long-held perception that chronic fatigue syndrome is a rich White women’s disease. There was less of a gap between women and men than what some previous studies suggested, and there was hardly any difference between White and Black people.
Also, a higher percentage of poor people showed they had the condition than affluent people.
Dr Daniel Clauw, director of the University of Michigan’s Chronic Pain and Fatigue Research Center, mentioned that since the report relied on patients’ memories without verifying their diagnoses through medical records, which could lead to some overcounting, experts believe only a fraction of the people with chronic fatigue syndrome are diagnosed.