Orji, Nneka, Campbell, Julie A, Wills, Karen et al. · BMC public health · 2022 · DOI
This study looked at how many people in Australia have ME/CFS by examining medical records from primary care clinics between 2015-2019. Researchers found that roughly 95-104 people per 100,000 have ME/CFS in Australia, but they also discovered that many patients avoid visiting their doctors because of stigma, disbelief in the condition, and lack of available treatments. The researchers concluded that the real number of people with ME/CFS is likely much higher than what their numbers show.
This study provides the first Australian prevalence estimates for ME/CFS in primary care, establishing that ME/CFS affects a substantial population often overlooked in health policy and resource allocation. The qualitative findings expose critical barriers to diagnosis and care—including medical disbelief and stigma—which directly impact patient access to recognition and support, informing advocacy and health system reform efforts.
This study does not establish the true prevalence of ME/CFS in the Australian community, as it only captures diagnosed cases in primary care among regular attendees; patients with undiagnosed ME/CFS or those who avoid healthcare are systematically excluded. The study cannot determine causation for why certain demographics (females, ages 40-59) have higher recorded prevalence, nor can it prove that the observed barriers fully account for underdiagnosis. The findings reflect primary care practices specifically and may not generalize to specialist or secondary care settings.
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
Orji, Nneka, Campbell, Julie A, Wills, Karen, Hensher, Martin, Palmer, Andrew J, Rogerson, Melissa, et al. (2022). Prevalence of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in Australian primary care patients: only part of the story?. BMC public health. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-022-13929-9
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-orji-2022-prevalence-myalgic,
author = {Orji, Nneka and Campbell, Julie A and Wills, Karen and Hensher, Martin and Palmer, Andrew J and Rogerson, Melissa and Kelly, Ryan and de Graaff, Barbara},
title = {Prevalence of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in Australian primary care patients: only part of the story?},
journal = {BMC public health},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1186/s12889-022-13929-9},
note = {PubMed: 35945527},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/orji-2022-prevalence-myalgic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/orji-2022-prevalence-myalgic
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