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UK: No brains at The Sun: "yuppie flu" headlines are back

charles shepherd

Senior Member
Messages
2,239
MEA letter to the Editor of The Sun at 10am today

URGENT: Inaccurate headline in The Sun

And: INTENDED FOR PUBLICATION

Dear Sir

Re the headline in the news item in today's SUN covering children with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS):

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...that-yuppie-flu-hits-one-in-50-teenagers.html

Yuppie flu is a derogatory and inaccurate description for the serious and debilitating neurological illness known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)

The name was invented by journalists and has NEVER been used by the medical profession

And as you say in the news item, ME/CFS is an illness that is 'more prevalent in poorer families' - it has no social class bias and has nothing to do with so-called yuppies

To comply with the press code of conduct on accuracy please take immediate steps to remove this appalling headline from your on-line news item and place a suitable correction and apology in the paper edition tomorrow

Yours
Dr Charles Shepherd
Medical Adviser, ME Association
7 Apollo Office Court
Radclive Road
Gawcott
Bucks MK18 4DF

Website: www.meassociation.org.uk
 

Sasha

Fine, thank you
Messages
17,863
Location
UK

BBC said:
Not yuppie flu
In the study, those with CFS/ME missed, on average, more than half a day of school every week.

Boys and girls appeared to be equally affected at the age of 13, but by the time they were 16, CFS/ME was more common in girls.

Children from families with poor housing, financial difficulties and a lack of support for their mother were more likely to report problems of severe fatigue.

The study authors said this dispelled the commonly held view that CFS/ME was a "middle-class" illness, or "yuppie flu".

This implies that the "yuppie flu" issue was raised by the study authors in the press release in order to dispel it, but it's not clear whether they're being directly quoted or whether that "yuppie flu" is just in "scare quotes" like the ones I'm using.
 

sarah darwins

Senior Member
Messages
2,508
Location
Cornwall, UK
This implies that the "yuppie flu" issue was raised by the study authors in the press release in order to dispel it, but it's not clear whether they're being directly quoted or whether that "yuppie flu" is just in "scare quotes" like the ones I'm using.

Bristol Uni's own press release mentions it:

http://www.bristol.ac.uk/alspac/news/2016/chronic-fatigue-syndrome.html

Children from families experiencing greater adversity were more likely to have the condition, dispelling the commonly held view that CFS is a ‘middle-class’ illness or ‘yuppie-flu’.
 

charles shepherd

Senior Member
Messages
2,239
Here is the abstract - data comes from the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children birth cohort
Abstract
BACKGROUND: In the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children (ALSPAC) birth cohort, chronic disabling fatigue lasting ≥6 months affected 1.3% of 13-year-olds, was equally common in boys and girls, and became more prevalent with increasing family adversity.

METHODS: ALSPAC data were used to estimate the prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) at age 16 years, defined by parental report of unexplained disabling fatigue lasting ≥6 months. We investigated gender and a composite 14-item family adversity index as risk factors. School absence data were obtained from the National Pupil Database. Multiple imputation was used to address bias caused by missing data.

RESULTS: The prevalence of CFS was 1.86% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 1.47 to 2.24). After excluding children with high levels of depressive symptoms, the prevalence was 0.60% (95% CI: 0.37 to 0.84). Authorized school absences were much higher (mean difference: 35.6 [95% CI: 26.4 to 44.9] half-day sessions per academic year) and reported depressive symptoms were much more likely (odds ratio [OR]: 11.0 [95% CI: 5.92 to 20.4]) in children with CFS than in those without CFS. Female gender (OR: 1.95 [95% CI: 1.33 to 2.86]) and family adversity (OR: 1.20 [95% CI: 1.01 to 1.42] per unit family adversity index) were also associated with CFS.

CONCLUSIONS: CFS affected 1.9% of 16-year-olds in a UK birth cohort and was positively associated with higher family adversity. Gender was a risk factor at age 16 years but not at age 13 years or in 16-year-olds without high levels of depressive symptoms.
 

Countrygirl

Senior Member
Messages
5,429
Location
UK
She said experts still did not know exactly why or how the condition is triggered, but research showed it could be successfully treated with cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) in young people.

Not true, of course!

I have a dim memory of Dr Crawley stating that if a child doesn't recover in six months then they can be rediagnosed with pervasive refusal syndrome. The child is then subjected to an intense course of vigorous physiotherapy with disastrous results as has happened under her jurisdiction. (I wish I could locate her quote.)

I think she also miraculously cured many of the tired teenagers by instructing them to go to bed at a reasonable hour. So just how many of these teenagers actually have ME rather than persistent tiredness through lack of sleep and poor diet?

Over the weekend, I was concerned to read of a case of a child who, like her Mum, has the disease. However, the hospital has stripped her of the diagnosis in order to subject her to three weeks of intensive physiotherapy. When the Mum challenged the treatment, she was told 'this is how we always treat children with this set of symptoms now'. Is this a result of Dr Crawley's influence? I wonder how many genuinely sick teenagers with ME will be damaged in the attempt to build oneself a medical empire?:(
 

jimells

Senior Member
Messages
2,009
Location
northern Maine
I think she also miraculously cured many of the tired teenagers by instructing them to go to bed at a reasonable hour. So just how many of these teenagers actually have ME rather than persistent tiredness through lack of sleep and poor diet?

... and "smart" phones waking them up all night? I see from the abstract quoted by Dr Shepherd that this study is diagnosing Oxford-style chronic fatigue.
 

ME3

Messages
11
Just listened to the talk on lbc. Thank you again Dr Shepherd. Tried to contact them by phone and line goes dead then hangs up.This has happened before when trying to contact BBC to give response.

Coincidence, faulty line ??
 

user9876

Senior Member
Messages
4,556
MEA letter to the Editor of The Sun at 10am today

URGENT: Inaccurate headline in The Sun

And: INTENDED FOR PUBLICATION

Dear Sir

Re the headline in the news item in today's SUN covering children with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS):

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepag...that-yuppie-flu-hits-one-in-50-teenagers.html

Yuppie flu is a derogatory and inaccurate description for the serious and debilitating neurological illness known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS)

The name was invented by journalists and has NEVER been used by the medical profession

And as you say in the news item, ME/CFS is an illness that is 'more prevalent in poorer families' - it has no social class bias and has nothing to do with so-called yuppies

To comply with the press code of conduct on accuracy please take immediate steps to remove this appalling headline from your on-line news item and place a suitable correction and apology in the paper edition tomorrow

Yours
Dr Charles Shepherd
Medical Adviser, ME Association
7 Apollo Office Court
Radclive Road
Gawcott
Bucks MK18 4DF

Website: www.meassociation.org.uk

There seems to be a prevalence of "yuppy flu" headlines associated with this story. Do we know if such phrases were used in SMC press releases or press briefings or are these papers coincidentally coming up with the same headlines?