Population characteristics
4.1 Duration of illness
The duration of the illness for the participants ranges from 2 years to 43 years, 53 having been ill for ten years or more. Figure 1 shows the year of onset of their illness recorded by CHROME participants.
Figure 1 Year of Onset of Illness
It is interesting to note the marked increase in numbers from 1981 onwards - and the fact that the number of new cases per year appears to be falling away again since 1991. Questions suggested to account for the increase in numbers of new cases per year among this population from 1981 are:
- What proportion of the whole population does this sample of chronic cases represent ?
- Were there epidemics in the 80s?
- Was the illness contracted in the 80s a more virulent version than that experienced earlier ?
- Did it throw up a larger proportion of chronic cases, and, if so, why ?
- Have those who fell ill before the 1980s dropped out of the networks because they have lost hope ? or because they have recovered ? or
- Have a significant number died ?
| Table 1 Type of Onset | |
| acute onset | 62% |
| gradual onset | 38% |
Similarly, with the falling off of annual numbers in the 90s, the question arises as to whether the total number falling ill per year decreased after 1991, or whether those who have only comparatively recently fallen ill will not be anxious to join in this type of survey. Although the population of 169 patients studied here is not put forward as a representative sample, the figures collected suggest that much more detailed research could profitably be done in this area to discover more about the causes, incidence, development and chronicity of M.E. through the collection of more detailed data from a much larger sample. Moreover, we would suggest that this statistic is the most unreliable in the whole survey because many patients, having given a date for the onset of their illness, then suggested an earlier date - in some cases many years earlier - when symptoms presented which could have marked the beginning of a disease process. In this context the type of onset - acute or gradual - may be significant. Participants were asked whether their illness had a gradual or acute onset and the results are shown in table 1, but, as will be seen in Section 6 below, the answers do not correspond in any meaningful way to the recording of the intensity of the symptoms experienced at onset.
4.2 Gender
Estimates of the ratio of women to men affected by M.E. vary, but it is commonly accepted that the proportion of women in the M.E. population is high. At the latest count 82 % of the participants in the survey were women, giving a ratio f:m as approximately 4:1. Questions this ratio might suggest are:
- Are women affected more seriously than men by this condition ? or
- Do women come forward more readily for a survey such as this one ? or
- Is a diagnosis of ME/PVFS/CFS given more readily to women than to men ?
Figure 2 Age of participants at the onset of their illness
- 54 were 20 years old or less and
- 33 were 15 years old or less.
| CHROME - Case History Research On M.E. | ||
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