Skufca, J, Ollgren, J, Ruokokoski, E et al. · Papillomavirus research (Amsterdam, Netherlands) · 2017 · DOI
This Finnish study looked at how often three conditions—ME/CFS, Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), and POTS—were diagnosed in teenage girls between 2002 and 2012, before the HPV vaccine program started. Researchers wanted to establish baseline numbers to help evaluate vaccine safety in the future. They found these conditions were relatively rare, though ME/CFS and POTS diagnoses increased over the decade studied.
This study establishes pre-vaccination baseline incidence rates essential for future safety surveillance of HPV vaccination. For ME/CFS patients, it provides crucial context for evaluating whether vaccine introduction correlates with disease incidence changes, helping distinguish vaccine safety signals from background rates and diagnostic practice evolution.
This study does not establish any causal relationship between HPV vaccination and these conditions—it only provides baseline data before vaccination began. The observed increases in CFS/SEID and POTS diagnoses may reflect improved awareness, changed diagnostic practices, or increased healthcare-seeking behavior rather than true disease increases. The study cannot determine whether the 2012 peak was clinically meaningful or an artifact of coding practices.
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
Skufca, J, Ollgren, J, Ruokokoski, E, Lyytikäinen, O, & Nohynek, H (2017). Incidence rates of Guillain Barré (GBS), chronic fatigue/systemic exertion intolerance disease (CFS/SEID) and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) prior to introduction of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination among adolescent girls in Finland, 2002-2012.. Papillomavirus research (Amsterdam, Netherlands). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.pvr.2017.03.001
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-skufca-2017-incidence-rates,
author = {Skufca, J and Ollgren, J and Ruokokoski, E and Lyytikäinen, O and Nohynek, H},
title = {Incidence rates of Guillain Barré (GBS), chronic fatigue/systemic exertion intolerance disease (CFS/SEID) and postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS) prior to introduction of human papilloma virus (HPV) vaccination among adolescent girls in Finland, 2002-2012.},
journal = {Papillomavirus research (Amsterdam, Netherlands)},
year = {2017},
doi = {10.1016/j.pvr.2017.03.001},
note = {PubMed: 28720463},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/skufca-2017-incidence-rates},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/skufca-2017-incidence-rates
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