Jason, Leonard A, Corradi, Karina, Gress, Sara et al. · Health care for women international · 2006 · DOI
This study looked at 166 people with ME/CFS who had passed away to understand what caused their deaths. The researchers found that heart failure, suicide, and cancer were the three leading causes, together accounting for nearly 60% of deaths. Notably, people with ME/CFS who died from cancer or suicide were much younger—in their late 30s to mid-40s—compared to people in the general population who died from these same causes.
This study highlights serious health threats faced by people living with ME/CFS, particularly elevated suicide risk and premature mortality from cardiovascular and malignant causes. Understanding mortality patterns can help clinicians provide better preventive care and mental health support, while also demonstrating the severe burden of this disease to the medical and research communities.
This study does not establish that ME/CFS directly causes these conditions or prove causal mechanisms. The memorial registry format means causes of death were not verified by medical records, and without knowing the total number of people with CFS, we cannot calculate actual mortality rates or determine whether these causes are truly more common than expected. Correlation between CFS and these deaths does not prove causation.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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