Aaron, L A, Buchwald, D · Current rheumatology reports · 2001 · DOI
This review examined research comparing fibromyalgia with ME/CFS and other related conditions like irritable bowel syndrome and migraines. The researchers looked at studies that measured how bodies of people with these conditions worked differently, trying to understand what might cause them. The goal was to see whether these conditions share common underlying problems.
For ME/CFS patients and researchers, this review is important because many people experience multiple overlapping conditions simultaneously. Understanding whether ME/CFS shares common physiological mechanisms with fibromyalgia and other conditions could help identify shared treatment targets and improve diagnostic clarity.
This review does not establish causation between conditions or prove that they are variants of a single disease. It cannot definitively identify the underlying mechanisms causing these conditions—it only summarizes what limited comparative studies existed at the time, and the scarcity of such comparisons means firm conclusions about shared pathology cannot be drawn.
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
Aaron, L A & Buchwald, D (2001). Fibromyalgia and other unexplained clinical conditions.. Current rheumatology reports. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11926-001-0006-5
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-aaron-2001-fibromyalgia-other,
author = {Aaron, L A and Buchwald, D},
title = {Fibromyalgia and other unexplained clinical conditions.},
journal = {Current rheumatology reports},
year = {2001},
doi = {10.1007/s11926-001-0006-5},
note = {PubMed: 11286667},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/aaron-2001-fibromyalgia-other},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/aaron-2001-fibromyalgia-other
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