Roberts, Emmert, Wessely, Simon, Chalder, Trudie et al. · Lancet (London, England) · 2016 · DOI
This study looked at whether people with ME/CFS die at higher rates than the general population. Researchers examined medical records of 2,147 people diagnosed with ME/CFS in England and Wales over 7 years and found they did not have higher overall death rates. However, the study did find a concerning increase in deaths by suicide among people with ME/CFS, suggesting that mental health support is particularly important for this group.
This study provides important reassurance that ME/CFS does not reduce overall life expectancy compared to the general population. Conversely, the marked elevation in suicide mortality highlights a critical gap in mental health care for people with ME/CFS and underscores the psychological burden of the condition, informing clinical practice guidelines and care priorities.
This study does not establish that ME/CFS causes suicide; it only demonstrates an association in this particular population. The study cannot determine whether increased suicide risk is directly related to ME/CFS pathology, to inadequate psychiatric support, to social isolation, or to other unmeasured factors. Additionally, findings from secondary/tertiary care settings may not generalise to all people with ME/CFS, including those managed in primary care.
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
Roberts, Emmert, Wessely, Simon, Chalder, Trudie, Chang, Chin-Kuo, & Hotopf, Matthew (2016). Mortality of people with chronic fatigue syndrome: a retrospective cohort study in England and Wales from the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Biomedical Research Centre (SLaM BRC) Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) Register.. Lancet (London, England). https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01223-4
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-roberts-2016-mortality-people,
author = {Roberts, Emmert and Wessely, Simon and Chalder, Trudie and Chang, Chin-Kuo and Hotopf, Matthew},
title = {Mortality of people with chronic fatigue syndrome: a retrospective cohort study in England and Wales from the South London and Maudsley NHS Foundation Trust Biomedical Research Centre (SLaM BRC) Clinical Record Interactive Search (CRIS) Register.},
journal = {Lancet (London, England)},
year = {2016},
doi = {10.1016/S0140-6736(15)01223-4},
note = {PubMed: 26873808},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/roberts-2016-mortality-people},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-25. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/roberts-2016-mortality-people
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