Written question asked by Jim Shannon (Democratic Unionist Party) on Wednesday, 18 March 2015, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Friday, 20 March 2015. It was answered by Norman Lamb (Liberal Democrat) on Wednesday, 25 March 2015 on behalf of the Department of Health.

ME/CFS

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what estimate he has made of the number of people in each age group who have suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome in each of the last five years.

Answer: No assessment has been made of the number of people in each age group who have suffered from chronic fatigue syndrome in each of the last five years. With the exception of cancer, there is no comprehensive central record of disease diagnosis for any condition. In 2007 The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence produced the clinical guidance ‘Chronic fatigue syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (or encephalopathy): Diagnosis and management of CFS/ME in adults and children’, which estimates that the annual prevalence is approximately 4,000 cases per million of the population.

Secondary information