Babiloni, Alberto Herrero, Brown, Courtney, Ash, Peyton et al. · The Clinical journal of pain · 2026 · DOI
This study looked at 50 young adults who have multiple overlapping pain conditions (including ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, and chronic back pain) to understand how much healthcare they use and whether it helps. On average, these patients saw 2-3 doctors currently and had seen 4 different doctors in the past, yet 78% said their conditions stayed the same or got worse. The findings suggest that simply seeing more doctors and taking more medications isn't enough—patients may need better-coordinated, team-based care.
ME/CFS is frequently comorbid with other pain conditions, and many patients experience years of medical visits without improvement. This study validates that experience and highlights the critical gap between high healthcare engagement and poor outcomes, supporting the urgent need for integrated multidisciplinary care models specifically designed for patients with overlapping chronic conditions.
This study does not prove that seeing more doctors causes worse outcomes or that fewer appointments would help—it only shows a lack of correlation. The cross-sectional design cannot determine causality, identify which specific care approaches work best, or explain why integrated care would succeed where fragmented care has not. Selection bias and self-report bias may also affect results.
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
Babiloni, Alberto Herrero, Brown, Courtney, Ash, Peyton, Conway, Carly, King, Christopher D, & Boggero, Ian Andres (2026). A Description of Healthcare Utilization in Young Adults with Chronic Overlapping Pain.. The Clinical journal of pain. https://doi.org/10.1097/AJP.0000000000001384
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-babiloni-2026-description-healthcare,
author = {Babiloni, Alberto Herrero and Brown, Courtney and Ash, Peyton and Conway, Carly and King, Christopher D and Boggero, Ian Andres},
title = {A Description of Healthcare Utilization in Young Adults with Chronic Overlapping Pain.},
journal = {The Clinical journal of pain},
year = {2026},
doi = {10.1097/AJP.0000000000001384},
note = {PubMed: 41919472},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/babiloni-2026-description-healthcare},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/babiloni-2026-description-healthcare
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