National patterns of age of ME/CFS onset

[Hutan]

This thread has some discussion about national patterns of age of onset, and possible reasons
ME Epidemiology - prevalence and peak ages of onset

 

[Hutan]

The report gives a chart of the age of survey respondents.
The Netherlands actually had a fairly low percentage of young respondents.





The EMEA survey is a great thing. Is there a plan for it to be run again soon? I think we could try to make it an international effort.

 

[Hutan]

During the 2009 H1N1 pandemic in the Netherlands, young people (under 18) were significantly more likely to be infected than older adults,, with about 60% of cases occurring in this age group. While the overall mortality rate was comparable to seasonal epidemics, there was a notable shift in mortality towards younger age groups.

A second observation is the peak in 2009 and 2010, which corresponds with the swine flu epidemic. Another study from Norway showed that the risk of getting ME/CFS was doubled among those that have had the swine flu, whereas there was no increased risk among those that have received the swine flu vaccine (Magnus et al., 2015).

Given the relatively small numbers of respondents, the apparent higher incidence of onset during teenage years in the Netherlands could well be an artefact of who came to hear about the survey. But, perhaps the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, reported in the Netherlands as having affected young people disproportionately, had something to do with the result?

 

[Simon M]

But, perhaps the 2009 H1N1 outbreak, reported in the Netherlands as having affected young people disproportionately, had something to do with the result?

As we have year of onset, we could look at 2009/10 in isolation.

 

[EndME]

As we have year of onset, we could look at 2009/10 in isolation.

I suppose one could also look at whether there is a Q-fever pattern (between something like 2007 and 2011), but I find it hard to understand why that would predominantly affect younger people. I would perhaps expect more of the opposite.