A new study of chronic fatigue syndrome reveals how women are more severely affected by the condition and tend to develop more severe symptoms over time
The world’s largest study of Myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), known as DecodeME, has exposed that women who have ME/CFS for more than 10 years were more likely to experience increasingly severe symptoms as they age.
Chronic fatigue syndrome affects over 250,000 people of all ages and genders in the UK
Although known to affect those of any gender, the results showcased how women, in particular, are more likely to experience chronic fatigue syndrome – ME/CFS.
Understanding how ME/CFS affects people is the first step towards developing effective treatment options. The DecodeME study was able to show for the first time that women’s symptoms differ from men and can get increasingly worse after 10 years.
Anonymous questionnaires from more than 17,000 participants with ME/CFS
They included information on how long the participants had had ME/CFS symptoms when they were diagnosed and whether they had any co-occurring conditions. The University of Edinburgh study shows well-established sex bias between ME/CFS patients, with women making up 83.5% of the respondents.
The participant must have experienced symptoms in the last six months for the condition to be considered active.
Two-thirds of women reported at least one active co-occurring condition compared to slightly more than half of men.
Two-thirds of women reported at least one active co-occurring condition compared to slightly more than half of men.
Tackling co-occurring conditions and chronic fatigue syndrome more than men
In contrast, 39.2% of women reported inactive co-occurring conditions and 28.6% of men.
The most common active co-occurring condition was irritable bowel syndrome, IBS, at 41.3%. While clinical depression, amnesia and hypothyroidism also feature prominently.
On average, women reported more symptoms than men, with women at 42 and men at 36.
To aid their efforts to release an even more solidified collection of data, the study team from the University of Edinburgh is looking to recruit a further 6,000 participants aged 16 and over.
