Bae, Jaeyong, Lin, Jin-Mann S · Frontiers in pediatrics · 2019 · DOI
This study examined how often people with ME/CFS visited doctors in the United States between 2000 and 2009. Researchers found that about 2.9 million visits were coded as ME/CFS-related during this period, with most patients being women in their 40s and 50s. Many patients with ME/CFS also had other health conditions like depression, high blood pressure, and diabetes, making their care more complicated.
This study provides important population-level evidence about how ME/CFS patients actually access healthcare in the U.S. and reveals potential gaps in preventive care and counseling—particularly for stress management and injury prevention—that could inform improved clinical management strategies. Understanding these healthcare patterns helps identify barriers to appropriate care and supports advocacy for better diagnostic and treatment protocols.
This study does not establish why ME/CFS visits remained stable or whether lack of diagnosis prevented visits from increasing; it is purely observational and cannot prove causation. The study relies on diagnostic coding accuracy and cannot determine whether patients were actually appropriately diagnosed with ME/CFS or whether comorbidities were primary or secondary to ME/CFS. It also does not explain why certain preventive counseling was underutilized.
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
Bae, Jaeyong & Lin, Jin-Mann S (2019). Healthcare Utilization in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): Analysis of US Ambulatory Healthcare Data, 2000-2009.. Frontiers in pediatrics. https://doi.org/10.3389/fped.2019.00185
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-bae-2019-healthcare-utilization,
author = {Bae, Jaeyong and Lin, Jin-Mann S},
title = {Healthcare Utilization in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS): Analysis of US Ambulatory Healthcare Data, 2000-2009.},
journal = {Frontiers in pediatrics},
year = {2019},
doi = {10.3389/fped.2019.00185},
note = {PubMed: 31139604},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/bae-2019-healthcare-utilization},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/bae-2019-healthcare-utilization
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