The Prevalence of Pediatric Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in a Community-Based Sample

Y

17

Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD) (NIH)

R01HD072208

Fatigue (Biology); Epidemiology; Diseases; Access to Health Care; Pediatrics; Incidence; Low Income Groups; Children; Adolescents; Ethnicity; African Americans; Hispanic Americans; Clinical Diagnosis; Physicians; Young Children; Screening Tests

10.1007/s10566-019-09543-3

1053-1890

Background: Most pediatric prevalence studies of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) have been based upon data from tertiary care centers, a process known for systematic biases such as excluding youth of lower socioeconomic status and those less likely to have access to health care. In addition, most pediatric ME/CFS epidemiologic studies have not included a thorough medical and psychiatric examination. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of pediatric ME/CFS from an ethnically and sociodemographically diverse community-based random sample. Method: A sample of 10,119 youth aged 5-17 from 5622 households in the Chicagoland area were screened. Following evaluations, a team of physicians made final diagnoses. Youth were given a diagnosis of ME/CFS if they met criteria for three selected case definitions. A probabilistic, multi-stage formula was used for final prevalence calculations. Results: The prevalence of pediatric ME/CFS was 0.75%, with a higher percentage being African American and Latinx than Caucasian. Of the youth diagnosed with ME/CFS, less than 5% had been previously diagnosed with the illness. Conclusions: Many youth with the illness have not been previously diagnosed with ME/CFS. These findings point to the need for better ways to identify and diagnose youth with this illness.

As Provided

2020

EJ1259013