Approximately 404,000 UK individuals have ME/CFS finds a study by Gemma Samms – a PhD level researcher working on a project funded by ME Research UK, and her supervisor Professor Chris Ponting who leads the DecodeME study.
The article, published in the Journal “BMC Public Health” assesses the prevalence of ME/CFS using records of the medical code G93.9 for “postviral fatigue syndrome” which the authors state is the code that best reflects symptoms of ME/CFS.
Using prevalence rates for England, but extrapolated to a UK population of 68.3 million, the paper estimates that 83,626 males (0.25% of 33.450m) and 320,296 females (0.92% of 34.815m) people within the UK would be given a G93.3 diagnosis in their lifetime i.e. 403,922, people in total . On this basis, the prevalence rate is 0.591% although the figure is not stated in the paper.
Importantly findings highlight unequal access to ME/CFS diagnosis in England. For example, those living in the most deprived groups and those of “other-than-white British” ethnicity had the lowest rates of ME/CFS diagnosis.
The authors conclude that to address the “deficiencies” in ME/CFS diagnostic rates, “improved training of medical professionals should be available and research into identifying accurate diagnostic tests should be prioritised”
A more detailed write up by ME Research UK is to follow.
In the meantime, you can:
- Access the full article
- Read more about ME/CFS prevalence – including the difficulties estimating it
- Read more about Gemma’s PhD level research
- Read more about the DecodeME study
- Press coverage
