Perruccio, Anthony V, Power, J Denise, Badley, Elizabeth M · Journal of epidemiology and community health · 2007 · DOI
This study looked at how 13 common long-term health conditions—including ME/CFS and fibromyalgia—affect people's daily activities, overall health, and doctor visits. Researchers used information from over 130,000 Canadians and found that ME/CFS and fibromyalgia had the strongest individual impact on activity limitations and poor health ratings, while conditions like arthritis and heart disease affected the most people overall in the population.
For ME/CFS patients and researchers, this study provides epidemiological evidence that ME/CFS ranks among the most individually disabling chronic conditions—comparable to cancer—in terms of activity limitations and health perception. The findings validate the severe functional impact patients report and inform arguments for research funding and clinical resource allocation.
This cross-sectional study establishes associations but cannot prove causation—it cannot determine whether conditions cause poor health outcomes or whether pre-existing health problems lead to disease diagnosis. The study does not explain mechanisms of disability or compare treatment effectiveness, and findings are specific to Canada's 2000-01 population, limiting generalizability to other countries or current contexts.
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 →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Perruccio, Anthony V, Power, J Denise, & Badley, Elizabeth M (2007). The relative impact of 13 chronic conditions across three different outcomes.. Journal of epidemiology and community health. https://doi.org/10.1136/jech.2006.047308
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-perruccio-2007-relative-impact,
author = {Perruccio, Anthony V and Power, J Denise and Badley, Elizabeth M},
title = {The relative impact of 13 chronic conditions across three different outcomes.},
journal = {Journal of epidemiology and community health},
year = {2007},
doi = {10.1136/jech.2006.047308},
note = {PubMed: 18000127},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/perruccio-2007-relative-impact},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/perruccio-2007-relative-impact
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