Collin, Simon M, Bakken, Inger J, Nazareth, Irwin et al. · Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine · 2017 · DOI
This study looked at how often ME/CFS and fibromyalgia were diagnosed in UK general practices between 2001 and 2013 using medical records. The researchers found that ME/CFS diagnoses decreased over time, while fibromyalgia diagnoses increased. Interestingly, people in poorer areas were less likely to be diagnosed with ME/CFS but more likely to be diagnosed with fibromyalgia compared to people in wealthier areas.
Understanding temporal trends and socioeconomic patterns in ME/CFS diagnosis is crucial for healthcare planning and identifying potential diagnostic disparities. The finding of lower diagnosis rates in more deprived areas may indicate barriers to diagnosis, care inequality, or differences in healthcare-seeking behavior that warrant further investigation. This study provides baseline epidemiological data essential for tracking progress in disease recognition and ensuring equitable care across socioeconomic groups.
This study does not prove that the actual incidence of ME/CFS has declined—only that recorded diagnoses have decreased, which could reflect changing diagnostic practices, physician awareness, or case definitions rather than true disease incidence. The observed socioeconomic disparities do not establish whether deprivation causes lower diagnosis rates or whether other unmeasured factors (such as differences in symptom presentation, health literacy, or access to specialists) explain the pattern. This is observational data and cannot establish causation for any of the associations reported.
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
Collin, Simon M, Bakken, Inger J, Nazareth, Irwin, Crawley, Esther, & White, Peter D (2017). Trends in the incidence of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia in the UK, 2001-2013: a Clinical Practice Research Datalink study.. Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine. https://doi.org/10.1177/0141076817702530
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-collin-2017-trends-incidence,
author = {Collin, Simon M and Bakken, Inger J and Nazareth, Irwin and Crawley, Esther and White, Peter D},
title = {Trends in the incidence of chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia in the UK, 2001-2013: a Clinical Practice Research Datalink study.},
journal = {Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1177/0141076817702530},
note = {PubMed: 28358988},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/collin-2017-trends-incidence},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/collin-2017-trends-incidence
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