Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is among the major causes of absence from schools
1 in 100 pupils could be affected by Chronic Fatigue syndrome (CFS), which is also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), leading to their absence from schools.
This research has been done by Dr Esther Crawley and collaborators from the University of Bristol and has been published online in the journal BMJ open.
This research has been done on 2855 pupils, in three schools of Bath. Researchers worked on students of age in the range of 11-16. 461 students were investigated further, who were absent for at least one day in a week for a six week term. 5 had already been diagnosed and 23 further cases were identified. It meant 28 students missed schools due to CFS.
Overall 1% of pupils had chronic fatigue syndrome while illness caused 6% of pupils to miss the school in large amount. However, according to experts, this 1% figure is too small and actual number can be much more than this.
Dr Esther Crawley, lead author and Consultant Senior Lecturer at the University’s School of Social and Community Medicine, said, “These findings reveal the scale of how many children are affected by disabling chronic fatigue that prevents them attending school, and how few are diagnosed and offered help.”
In the following video Dr Charles Shepherd, medical adviser to the ME Association, describes about ME. He himself has ME.
Reference:
Esther M Crawley, Alan M Emond, Jonathan A C Sterne, (2011). Unidentified Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/myalgic encephalomyelitis (CFS/ME) is a major cause of school absence: surveillance outcomes from school-based clinics. BMJ Open, doi:10.1136/bmjopen-2011-000252
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