Dahan, Haissam, Shir, Yoram, Velly, Ana et al. · The journal of headache and pain · 2015 · DOI
This study examined how jaw pain (temporomandibular disorder) relates to other chronic pain conditions, particularly in people with ME/CFS. Researchers found that people with jaw pain who also had migraine or ME/CFS experienced more severe and longer-lasting jaw pain. Having multiple pain conditions at the same time was linked to worse jaw pain symptoms.
ME/CFS frequently co-occurs with multiple pain conditions, and this study provides evidence that accumulating comorbidities may worsen symptom burden and disease presentation. Understanding these relationships helps clinicians recognize and address interconnected pain syndromes in ME/CFS populations, potentially informing more comprehensive treatment approaches.
This cross-sectional design shows associations but cannot establish whether comorbidities cause worse TMD pain, whether TMD causes worse comorbid symptoms, or whether shared underlying mechanisms drive all conditions simultaneously. The study does not prove causality and cannot determine temporal relationships between condition onset.
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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