Prevalence of Chronic Widespread Pain and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Young Korean Adults

Abstract

Objectives: There have been many epidemiological studies on chronic widespread pain [CWP] and chronic fatigue syndrome [CFS] in the general population or samples ascertained from clinical sources, but such studies have not been reported in similarly aged young people. It may be helpful to report in which homogenous group CWP and CFS are more prevalent for future research about the pathogenesis of these illnesses. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of CWP and CFS in Korean university freshmen.

Methods: Those who participated in the freshmen orientation of a large Korean university in March 2006 were evaluated for the prevalence of CWP and CFS. Interviews were conducted by trained personnel with adequate medical background using a questionnaire that included demographic characteristics, smoking, CWP, and fatigue.

Results: Among the 1,644 freshmen interviewed, 815 participants [49.6%] were men and 829 participants [50.4%] were women. There were five cases of CWP [0.3%]; three of the cases were men and two were women. The CFS was detected in only one male case [0.06 percent].

Conclusion: The prevalence of CWP was 0.3%, which was much lower than statistics [7.3 to 14.0%] reported by previous studies of the general population. It would seem useful to investigate the prevalence of CWP and CFS according to age to facilitate further study of the aging factors in the pathogenesis of CWP and CFS.

KEYWORDS:

• Chronic widespread pain
• chronic fatigue syndrome
• prevalence
• Korean
• young adults