Schovsbo, Signe U, Dantoft, Thomas M, Thuesen, Betina H et al. · Scandinavian journal of public health · 2023 · DOI
This study looked at whether people with lower social position—such as having less education, being unemployed, or living alone—are more likely to develop functional somatic disorders like ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, and IBS. The researchers found that people with lower social position did have higher rates of these conditions, and the effect was strongest for more severe cases. However, the study does not explain why this connection exists.
This study identifies social position as a potential risk factor for ME/CFS and related conditions, suggesting that socioeconomically disadvantaged patients may represent a particularly vulnerable subgroup requiring targeted clinical attention. Understanding the relationship between social determinants of health and FSDs like ME/CFS could inform public health interventions and highlight health inequities in disease prevalence and severity.
This cross-sectional study cannot establish causality—it is unclear whether lower social position causes FSDs, whether having an FSD leads to lower social position, or whether both are influenced by unmeasured confounders. The study also does not identify the mechanisms (biological, psychological, or social) that might explain these associations, nor does it prove these relationships apply equally across all populations or geographic regions.
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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