CFS prevalence in Hong Kong

[Ember]

Tuesday, 05 February, 2013, 12:00am
Richard Lord healthpost@scmp.com

The scourge of chronic fatigue syndrome

More than 10 per cent of Hongkongers may be suffering from a debilitating disorder for which there is no simple cure. Many will never recover from it, writes Richard Lord

http://www.scmp.com/lifestyle/health/article/1143171/scourge-chronic-fatigue-syndrome

 

[Jemal]

So 1 in 10 Hongkongers have CFS symptoms? Sounds more like chronic fatigue than ME/CFS to me?

 

[alex3619]

China is one of the few countries that still diagnoses patients with neurasthenia, or at least did so a few years ago. One in ten is much higher prevalence than would be expected, so the claim needs to be examined very carefully.

 

[Firestormm]

So that's where she got to:

Leading CFS researcher Judy Mikovits says many subclinical CFS cases exist in the population but are not picked up in epidemiological studies. "The disorder of CFS will be harder to separate out in developing countries as it merges with many common and often chronic infections and requires expertise not likely available in such countries."
...
Mikovits adds: "Controlling stress; boundary setting of physical, emotional and cognitive activities; and attention to proper sleep and diet modification are the first and most important clinical steps to take. A search for the key or keys to individual cases of CFS can turn up … clinical conditions unique to that person.

"Our modern lifestyle involves far more stress than previous generations: oxidative stress in general; increased travel and exposure to different environmental toxins and pathogens from other countries; poorer nutritional value of foods; polluting elements in our environment that used to not be there."

Interesting article in general. Thanks Ember

 

[Doogle]

Yes the author is confused and Richard Lord cites a fatigue study not an ME study. http://repository.ied.edu.hk/dspace/handle/2260.2/12464