A community-based study of chronic fatigue syndrome

Background: Most previous estimates of the prevalence of chronic fatigue sy ndrome (CFS) have derived largely from treated populations, and have been b iased by differential access to health care treatment linked with sea, ethn ic identification, and socioeconomic status. Objective: To assess the point prevalence of CFS in an ethnically diverse r andom community sample. Design and Participants: A sample of 28 673 adults in Chicago, ill, was scr eened by telephone, and those with CFS-like symptoms were medically evaluat ed. Main Outcome Measures and Analyses: Self-report questionnaires, psychiatric evaluations, and complete medical examinations with laboratory testing wer e used to diagnose patients with CFS. Univariate and multivariate statistic al techniques were used to delineate the overall rate of CFS in this popula tion, and its relative prevalence was subcategorized by sex, ethnic identif ication, age, and socioeconomic status. Results: There was a 65.1% completion rate for the telephone interviews dur ing the first phase of the study. Findings indicated that CFS occurs in abo ut 0.42% (95% confidence interval, 0.29%-0.56%) of this random community-ba sed sample. The highest levels of CFS were consistently found among women, minority groups, and persons with lower levels of education and occupationa l status. Conclusions: Chronic fatigue syndrome is a common chronic health condition, especially for women, occurring across ethnic groups. Earlier findings sug gesting that CFS is a syndrome primarily affecting white, middle-class pati ents were not supported by our findings.