As common as diabetes?

[November Girl]

There is a thread a few lines down regarding an excellent article in the Ottawa paper. The interviewed doctor states that CFS/ME is as common as diabetes. Does anyone know the numbers for this? It's a stat I'd love to quote.

http://forums.phoenixrising.me/show...a-Citizen-Newspaper&highlight=common+diabetes

 

[Snow Leopard]

Total rates of diabetes are around 4-6% or so in western countries (global prevalence of about 3%), around 5-10% of which are Type 1. Prevalence rates of ME/CFS differ, depending on the case definition etc, but population based studies in the USA have estimated rates between 0.25-0.42%. Which is in the ballpark of the prevalence of Type 1 diabetes, but not diabetes in general.

 

[November Girl]

That's a shame. Oh, wait - it's not a shame that more people don't have CFS! It would have been a real nice stat to quote the next time some ignorant person referred to CFS as a rare disease. Btw, that ignorant person was the MA in my doc's office - generally very good at what she does, just doesn't know beans about CFS. At the time I gave her the CDC's prevalence estimates and she was sure that couldn't be right. (Of course I forgot to make a note of them, and don't remember now!)

 

[ixchelkali]

The American Diabetes Association says there are 25.8 million people in the United States with diabetes. Even the broadest definitions of ME/CFS, throwing in everyone who's been tired for a long time and half the people who are depressed, don't claim nearly that many people. I don't know where the reporter got that one.

 

[November Girl]

It's stated as a quote from the doctor, but I imagine it's a misquote - or partial quote, which is equally as misleading. Over the years, my husband and I have noticed errors in any newspaper article that concerned something we knew a lot about. It's not that the reporters are careless - they just don't get the nuances in most cases.

... A sidetrip down memory lane... The first intentional misquote I read was in a political ad. A politician was pictured on the capitol steps and reported to say "I won't vote for any of the governor's programs, even the good ones." I asked him if he really said that. He told me "yes, but I finished the sentence with "unless their good for my district." This was my first lesson in something that was factually accurate, but also a false depiction. I was about 8 years old, and have never forgotten this. I asked him at the breakfast table because the politician was my Dad. He's been gone 15 years, and I still miss him.

 

[mellster]

I heard/read somewhere about numbers in the range of 11-15 million and more for CFS/ME/FM (plus more if you include undiagnosed or misdiagnosed patients) - so pretty close. Not sure if it was legit, but I wouldn't be surprised by those numbers.