ME/CFS in the world, elsewhere than in Europe, USA and Oceania

The vast majority of research on ME/CFS, including epidemiological data, comes from Europe, the USA, Oceania, and to a lesser extent Japan and South Korea.

However, there is scant data on the prevalence and incidence of the disease in Africa, Asia and South America, even though the most populated countries in the world are located on these continents (China, India, Indonesia, Pakistan, Brazil...).

Importantly, since many countries outside of Europe, the USA, Oceania, Japan and South Korea are not as economically developed, access to proper hygiene may be more difficult there. This drives the spread of infections and thus of post-infectious syndromes, so one could expect higher prevalence and incidence of ME/CFS.

This topic could gather epidemiological studies on ME/CFS, research groups and patient associations in these countries.

 

The Prevalence of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Nigeria, Njoku, Torres-Harding and Jason, 2007

The 2022 review of unexplained post-acute infectious syndromes by Choutka et al. lists a number of studies on Ebola, dengue, chikungunya, polio, West Nile virus and varicella zoster virus (Taiwan) among others: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41591-022-01810-6/tables/2

 

Apart from economic reasons, part of the bias arises from different terminology and not publishing in English language journals...

A 2010 study from Hong Kong (not mentioned in your list, but still a developed region) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0165032710003654

Studies from the rest of the world do exist but they aren't of the highest quality/relevance (in terms of diagnostic criteria) when it comes to measuring prevalence of ME or CFS.

Chronic fatigue among bank workers in Brazil
https://academic.oup.com/occmed/article/52/4/187/1505615

Factors associated with work ability and perception of fatigue among nursing personnel from Amazonia
https://www.scielo.br/j/rbepid/a/GhnwJVsYB67sYJb4zPncRnG/?lang=en&format=html

Somatization in Latin America: a review of the classification of somatoform disorders, functional syndromes and medically unexplained symptoms
https://www.scielo.br/j/rbp/a/5KFYWB6hqpfyFTnZR3kNDGd/abstract/?lang=en

Comparative epidemiology of chronic fatigue syndrome in Brazilian and British primary care: prevalence and recognition
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19182171/

The prevalence and associations of unexplained chronic fatigue in Brazilian primary care
https://www.researchgate.net/public...ned_chronic_fatigue_in_Brazilian_primary_care

Prevalence of the chronic fatigue syndrome in workers of a Mexican factory
https://repositorio.utp.edu.co/items/3a8d7d29-f5dd-4064-a177-74df1863ef7b

CHRONIC FATIGUE SYNDROME: A CROSS-CULTURAL APPROXIMATION (comparing student populations of a Mexican vs USA university)
https://www.iztacala.unam.mx/carreras/psicologia/psiclin/vol18num4/Vol18No4Art7.pdf

Long COVID and chronic fatigue syndrome: A survey of elderly female survivors in Egypt
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/ijcp.14886

The prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome and depression in Guilan medical students in 2020 (Iran)
https://scholar.archive.org/work/ka.../https://rdme.tbzmed.ac.ir/PDF/rdme-10-25.pdf

Prevalence Rates of Chronic Fatigue Complaints in a Probability Sample of Arab College Students
https://www.researchgate.net/profil...obability-sample-of-Arab-college-students.pdf

Chronic fatigue in developing countries: population based survey of women in India
https://www.bmj.com/content/330/7501/1190.short

Prevalence of clinically significant functional fatigue or weakness in specialty outpatient clinics of Pune, India
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/18236904/

Persistence of Fatigue among COVID-19 Survivors in Bangladesh: A Two-month after Follow-up Study
https://www.banglajol.info/index.php/BJMED/article/view/56791

Post-COVID-19 syndrome among symptomatic COVID-19 patients: A prospective cohort study in a tertiary care center of Bangladesh
https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0249644


(more may be added if I find them)

While the relatively high prevalence in these studies probably suggests a lack of specific criteria, there is a plausible basis for higher rates of ME or CFS in these countries due to a higher burden of infectious disease, poorer nutrition etc.

 

Thank you @Snow Leopard, you make good points about terminology and non-English literature.

I am curious about Argentina since Ampligen has been approved there for severe ME.

 

The studies show there is interest in the rest of the world, but there is probably a lack of funding for high quality studies.

In Argentina, there is usual attribution of la fatiga crónica (or astenia crónica) to estrés and factores psicológicos.

A 2010 Argentinean study claimed there were no population based studies of CFS prevalence in Argentina...

Estrés Académico en Alumnos Ingresantes a la Carrera de Odontología en la Universidad Nacional de Córdoba, Argentina
https://www.scielo.cl/scielo.php?pid=S0718-381X2020000400639&script=sci_arttext&tlng=pt

Síndrome de Fatiga Crónica y sus factores asociados en el personal de enfermería en un Hospital de Segundo Nivel
https://revistas.unilibre.edu.co/index.php/rc_salud_ocupa/article/view/4947

Some other Spanish language studies:

The following was cited in some of the Argentinian studies, though I realise now it was a Thesis from a researcher in Spain:
https://www.educacion.gob.es/teseo/imprimirFicheroTesis.do?idFichero=qT8VPZf8rn4=

Prevalencia del síndrome de fatiga crónica en trabajadores de una fábrica mexicana de cierres (Mexico)
https://ojs2.utp.edu.co/index.php/revistamedica/article/view/7107

Prevalencia de síntomas de fatiga crónica / encefalomielitis miálgica (SFC/EM) y su relación con factores ocupacionales en trabajadores en una empresa de vigilancia en Bogotá, Colombia, 2016
https://repository.urosario.edu.co/handle/10336/12243

Síndrome de fatiga crónica en el personal de la salud en hospitales. (Ecuador)
http://scielo.senescyt.gob.ec/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S2528-79072019000100127

 

I'm from Argentina, and I can tell you that no doctor is aware of what even is Ampligen and that it was never on the market, it was all a bluff, as many other things are in this country