Cheng, Wei-Ming, Fan, Yu-Hua, Lin, Alex T L · Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA · 2018 · DOI
This study looked at how other health conditions that often occur alongside bladder pain syndrome (interstitial cystitis) might affect bladder function. Researchers tested 111 patients with bladder pain and found that 78% also had at least one other condition, such as irritable bowel syndrome, fibromyalgia, or chronic fatigue syndrome. They discovered that patients with both bladder pain and irritable bowel syndrome had different bladder function patterns than those with bladder pain alone.
ME/CFS and bladder pain syndrome frequently co-occur and share overlapping pathophysiology. Understanding how multiple comorbid conditions alter bladder function may help explain symptom variability in ME/CFS patients and inform personalized treatment approaches. This work highlights the importance of screening for and addressing comorbidities when managing complex chronic conditions.
This study does not establish causation—it only identifies associations between comorbidities and urodynamic findings. The cross-sectional design cannot determine whether comorbid conditions cause urodynamic changes or result from them. Additionally, the findings do not prove that normalizing urodynamic parameters would improve patient symptoms or quality of life.
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
Cheng, Wei-Ming, Fan, Yu-Hua, & Lin, Alex T L (2018). Urodynamic characteristics might be variable in bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis patients with different non-bladder co-morbid conditions.. Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcma.2017.06.022
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-cheng-2018-urodynamic-characteristics,
author = {Cheng, Wei-Ming and Fan, Yu-Hua and Lin, Alex T L},
title = {Urodynamic characteristics might be variable in bladder pain syndrome/interstitial cystitis patients with different non-bladder co-morbid conditions.},
journal = {Journal of the Chinese Medical Association : JCMA},
year = {2018},
doi = {10.1016/j.jcma.2017.06.022},
note = {PubMed: 29223727},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cheng-2018-urodynamic-characteristics},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cheng-2018-urodynamic-characteristics
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