Tattan, Mais, Ørnbøl, Eva, Wellnitz, Kaare Bro et al. · Journal of psychosomatic research · 2024 · DOI
This study looked at 1,704 people with symptoms of functional somatic disorders (including ME/CFS, fibromyalgia, and irritable bowel syndrome) to understand who had received a diagnosis from a doctor. The researchers found that people—especially women—who had poor quality of life and negative beliefs about their illness were more likely to have received an official diagnosis. The study suggests that factors beyond just having symptoms affect whether people get diagnosed with these conditions.
Understanding why some people with ME/CFS and related conditions receive diagnoses while others do not—despite having similar symptoms—is crucial for improving diagnostic equity and reducing diagnostic delays. This study reveals that non-medical factors like sex, illness perceptions, and quality of life significantly influence diagnosis, highlighting potential diagnostic barriers and disparities that affect patient access to care and validation.
This study cannot establish causation or the temporal sequence of events; it does not show whether poor quality of life causes diagnosis-seeking behavior or whether diagnosis improves outcomes. The study also does not prove that lack of diagnosis is harmful, nor does it explain why physicians may be more likely to diagnose women or those with more severe symptoms—only that these associations exist.
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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