A new survey suggests chronic fatigue syndrome may be far more prevalent in Canada than previously thought, and more widespread than many more well-known conditions.
The suggestion is based on a Statistics Canada survey in which respondents were asked whether their doctor had diagnosed them with chronic fatigue or its more recently introduced name, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). The survey shows some 560,000 Canadians report that they have the disease — a 36.7 per cent increase over previous results from 2014. The number also suggests the disease may be more common than breast cancer, Parkinson’s disease and multiple sclerosis combined.