Looking for Numbers on Illness Prevalence Rates

[LaurelB]

I've been very slowly working on a project to help raise awareness about ME/CFS and want to make sure I have my facts correct before it's complete.

I read somewhere that ME/CFS is more prevalent in the US than breast cancer, lung cancer or AIDS combined. I believe this comparison referred to the 1 million estimate of CFS vs. the 4 million estimate.

For accuracy, I have been trying to find illness prevalence rates in the US for the illnesses mentioned (breast cancer, lung cancer and AIDS), but have not been able to find them. Can anyone help? I just want to make sure the comparison to CFS remains accurate today.

Thanks for any help!

 

[LaurelB]

Actually -- I think I found the info:

Prevalence of AIDS in U.S. = 470,902 (2006)
http://www.avert.org/usa-statistics.htm

Prevalence of Breast Cancer in US = 205,000 (2002)
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/b/breast_cancer/prevalence.htm

Prevalence of Lung Cancer in US = 169,400 (2002)
http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/l/lung_cancer/prevalence.htm

I couldn't find more recent statistics than that (Google is not my friend), but if the numbers are still similar, that still makes CFS more prevalent than all 3 combined, even at the 1 million estimate.

Anyway, just talking to myself here. Please ignore me.

 

[illsince1977]

Isn't CFS more prevalent because mortality is higher in both those cancers than in CFS? AIDS prevalence would have been lower as well, if it hadn't been for HAART, as many AIDS patients died before HAART. This is just an observation off the top of my head as to why the numbers may look like they do. I'm just thinking out loud here, too.

 

[boomer]

Are those the numbers diagnosed annually. I think I heard that once you have had breast cancer the same cancer can return many years later. So after five years you cannot say you are cured. I think in Canada one in eight or nine women will get breast cancer in their lifetime.

 

[Nielk]

I don''t know about numbers and prevalence and studies, but lately (for some reason) whoever I tell that I have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,
answers: "really? me too"
Do they really know what they are talking about?

 

[usedtobeperkytina]

Laurel, mcwpa was just thinking of including info on the website that shows prevalency in all countries around the world. When I saw this title, I thought you were me in a time warp, a day earlier than me. Or that I was in a time warp and a day behind.

I see you are going for different type of prevalency rates.

Andrea and I just put up a page that compares government funding of other similar illnesses to ME/CFS, along with the prevalency: http://mcwpa.org/resources/research-funding-comparison/

I'll let you guys know if we decide to do worldwide prevalency of ME/CFS by country.

I'm sure you guys would be a great help.

In the mean time, go vote, it's your right. LOL

Tina

 

[LaurelB]

illsince1977 -- that's an excellent point, and one I hadn't really thought about, even though it is so obvious now that you say it. No doubt the numbers would be higher if all 3 illnesses were not often fatal. Though with medical advances, many are living longer now. I also wonder what the rate of diagnosis is for each illness compared to CFS.

Boomer -- if new rates are listed each year, I couldn't find them. I'm sure they must be somewhere, but my Google/online capabilities are limited.

Tina -- funny.. great minds think alike. Thanks so much for the link! Great source of info -- really stunning when you see it all laid out like that.