Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Adults: United States, 2021-2022

Details

• Personal Author:
  Lin, Jin-Mann S. ; Bertolli, Jeanne ; Vahratian, Anjel ; Unger, Elizabeth R.
• Corporate Authors:
  National Center for Health Statistics (U.S.)
• Description:
  Key findings
  
  • Adults with a family income less than 100% of the federal poverty level (2.0%) were more likely to have ME/CFS, followed by those at 100-199% (1.7%), and those at or above 200% (1.1%).
  
  • White non-Hispanic (1.5%) adults were more likely to have ME/CFS compared with Asian non-Hispanic (0.7%) and Hispanic (0.8%) adults.
  
  • In 2021-2022, 1.3% of adults had myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).
  
  • The percentage of adults who had ME/CFS increased with increasing rurality of their place of residence.
  
  Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a complex, multisystem illness characterized by activity-limiting fatigue, worsening of symptoms after activity, and other symptoms (1). It affects all age, sex, and racial and ethnic groups and costs the U.S. economy about $18-$51 billion annually (2-5). This report describes the percentage of adults who had ME/CFS at the time of interview by selected demographic and geographic characteristics based on data from the 2021-2022 National Health Interview Survey (NHIS).
  
  Data from the National Health Interview Survey
  
  • The percentage of adults who had ME/CFS increased with age through ages 60-69 and then declined among those age 70 and older.
  
  
• Source:
  National Health Interview Survey
• Series:
  NCHS Data Briefs
• Document Type:
  Text
• Genre:
  Statistics ; Report
• Place as Subject:
  United States
• CIO:
  National Center for Health Statistics
• Topic:
  Health Statistics
• Pages in Document:
  7 numbered pages
• Issue:
  488
• Collection(s):
  National Center for Health Statistics
• Main Document Checksum:
  urn:sha-512:e5f24d9e400dc5d411a106dc1de8451fc0de87f2aeb9606530a78d69718ad18431d7b44f49fb37fa545db3e5b15b16363caf3e2ddeeb3d0d3bae1cdc79460963
• Download URL:
  https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/134504/cdc_134504_DS1.pdf
• File Type:
  [PDF - 428.86 KB ]