Prevalence of ME & FMS in Canada

 ME/CFS

A Statistics Canada Community Health Survey[i] indicated that the prevalence of adults diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Canada  was:

• 2001  - 199,746
• 2003  -  341,126

This increase of over 58% in a two-year period suggests that

• there is an alarming increase in this chronic and often severely debilitating illness,
• or some physicians lacked sufficient knowledge about the illness to make an accurate diagnosis,
• or physicians are making inappropriate diagnoses.

FMS   

Many international prevelance studies consistently found that FMS is more prevalent that ME/CFS and indicate that FMS afficts between 2 and 10% of the adult population.

There are two studies done by Canadian researchers.

• The study by White et al.[ii] suggests that 3.3% or 825,000 of non-institutionalized Canadians have FMS.
  
• These figures are supported by an earlier study[iii]  by Dr. Elizabeth Badly, who did a study city by city and province by province, that indicated that 822,000 Canadians had been diagnosed with FMS in 1994.

Because the figures in the studies by White et al. and Badly are in line with the many international studies, we will use their figures. 

This would suggest that more than 1,166,000 adult Canadians have either ME/CFS or FMS.

 Economic Loss to Canada

An American study[iv] by Reynolds et al. estimates the average annual lost productivity is $20,000 per person for those afflicted with ME/CFS. Assuming the figures would be similar in Canada and assuming there would be an equivalent loss of productivity for FMS, the combined loss of productivity due to these illnesses in Canada would be over 20 billion dollars annually. 

In addition to the loss of productivity, the federal and provincial governments experience a loss of income tax on 20 billion dollars annually  and a loss of GST on that amount due to ME/CFS and FMS.

Medical Cost

Many patients are sent to several doctors before being diagnosed due to the lack of education doctors receive on ME/CFS and FMS. A Canadian study[v] and a multi-centre American study[vi] assessed the annual direct medical cost for FMS to affected individuals was approximately $2,275.00. Using these figures for both FMS and ME/CFS, it suggests that over 2 billion dollars is lost in direct medical cost annually.

Simply from a financial standpoint, the urgent need to educate doctors about these illnesses is self-evident.

[ii] White KP, Speechley M, Harth M, Ostbye T. The London fibromyalgia epidemiology study: the prevalence of fibromyalgia syndrome in London, Ontario. Journal of Rheumatology 26(7):15700-1576, 1999.

[iii] Badly E. Prevalence of Arthritis in Canada. Arthritis Community Research and Evaluation Unit, Wellesley Hospital, Toronto, Ontario. June 1994.

[iv] Reynolds KJ, Vernon SD, Bouchery E, Reeves W C. The economic impact of chronic fatigue syndrome. Cost Effective Resource Allocation 2:4, 2004.

[v] White KP, Speechley M, Harth M, Osbye T. The London fibromyalgia epidemiology study: direct health care costs of fibromyalgia syndrome in London, Canada. Journal of Rheumatology 26(4):885-889, 1999.

[vi] Wolfe F, Anderson J, Harkness D, et al. A prospective, longitudinal, multicenter study of service utilization and costs in fibromyalgia. Arthritis Rheumatism 40:1560-1570, 1997.