Systematic review and meta-analysis of the prevalence of chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME)

Table 3 Meta-analysis results for the prevalence of CFS/ME

Group	N. of data^a	Random effects model (%)		Heterogeneity (P < 0.01, P = 0%)
Group		Prevalence	95% CI	Q	T²	I² (%)
Total	56	0.68	[0.48; 0.97]	8602.90	1.7199	99.4
Sex
Male	24	0.86	[0.58; 1.27]	279.89	0.6666	91.8
Female	24	1.36	[0.91; 2.02]	822.64	0.8003	97.2
Total	48	1.04	[0.76; 1.41]	1481.76	0.9471	96.8
Study participants
Community	33	0.76	[0.53; 1.10]	3286.47	1.0363	99.0
Primary care	23	0.63	[0.37; 1.10]	2732.10	1.7745	99.2
Population group
General population (≥ 18 years)
Male	23	0.89	[0.60; 1.32]	276.23	0.6607	92.0
Female	23	1.36	[0.91; 2.04]	818.30	0.8009	97.3
Total	44	0.65	[0.43; 0.99]	7717.65	1.8518	99.4
Children/adolescents (< 18 years)	7	0.55	[0.22; 1.35]	538.13	1.4319	98.9
Specific population	5	1.31	[0.61; 2.78]	80.54	0.6657	95.0
Case definition
CDC-1994 [22]	34	0.89	[0.60; 1.33]	3871.64	1.3691	99.1
Holmes [23]	8	0.17	[0.06; 0.49]	101.72	1.8890	93.1
Australian [25]	4	0.79	[0.05; 12.55]	1002.43	7.8860	99.7
Oxford [24]	4	1.41	[0.68; 2.93]	35.17	0.4468	91.5
CCC [27] ECD [26] PVES [28] NICE [29]^b	4	0.17	[0.04; 0.83]	1200.67	2.5864	99.8
Diagnostic method
Interview (medical test −)	22	1.14	[0.76; 1.72]	1675.91	0.8269	98.7
Interview(medical test +)	23	0.95	[0.69; 1.31]	365.72	0.5208	94.0
Physician diagnosis	6	0.09	[0.05; 0.13]	200.49	0.2952	97.5
Medical records	5	0.52	[0.16; 1.71]	1197.28	1.8360	99.7

Refer to supplementary Additional file: Figs. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
^aTotal number of prevalence data points
^bCCC, Canadian Consensus Criteria; ECD, epidemiological case definition; PVES, post viral exhaustion syndrome; and NICE, National Institute for Health and Care Excellence guideline 2007; two studies with no verification of case definition and defined criteria were excluded

ISSN: 1479-5876