Chung, Shiu-Dong, Liu, Shih-Ping, Lin, Ching-Chun et al. · PloS one · 2013 · DOI
This study found that women with bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis (BPS/IC) are more than twice as likely to have had hyperthyroidism (an overactive thyroid) compared to women without bladder pain. The researchers reviewed medical records from Taiwan and suggest that doctors treating women with thyroid problems should ask about urinary symptoms.
This research is relevant to ME/CFS because both conditions share autonomic nervous system dysfunction and frequently co-occur with other comorbidities including thyroid disorders. Understanding the link between endocrine dysfunction and pain/bladder syndromes may help explain overlapping mechanisms in ME/CFS and related conditions, potentially guiding screening and treatment approaches.
This study demonstrates association, not causation—hyperthyroidism may not cause BPS/IC, and both may result from a shared underlying process. The study is limited to Taiwan's healthcare database and primarily captures women with access to care, so findings may not generalize universally. The cross-sectional nature means temporal relationships between hyperthyroidism diagnosis and BPS/IC onset cannot be definitively established.
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 →
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