Doyle, J P, Frank, E, Saltzman, L E et al. · Journal of women's health & gender-based medicine · 1999 · DOI
This study looked at how common domestic violence and sexual abuse are among women doctors and what health problems they experience afterward. Researchers surveyed over 4,500 women physicians and found that those who had experienced domestic violence or sexual abuse were more likely to report depression, substance abuse, and chronic fatigue syndrome. The study suggests these traumatic experiences can have lasting effects on doctors' physical and mental health.
For ME/CFS patients and researchers, this study is significant because it identifies chronic fatigue syndrome as a documented health outcome associated with domestic violence in a professional population. The study demonstrates an established link between trauma and CFS symptomatology, which may inform understanding of how physical and psychological stressors contribute to ME/CFS development and perpetuation.
This study does not prove that domestic violence causes chronic fatigue syndrome, only that these conditions are associated in women physicians. The cross-sectional design cannot determine temporal relationships or establish causality. Additionally, the study's findings in physicians may not generalize to other populations with different socioeconomic, educational, or occupational characteristics.
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
Doyle, J P, Frank, E, Saltzman, L E, McMahon, P M, & Fielding, B D (1999). Domestic violence and sexual abuse in women physicians: associated medical, psychiatric, and professional difficulties.. Journal of women's health & gender-based medicine. https://doi.org/10.1089/jwh.1.1999.8.955
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-doyle-1999-domestic-violence,
author = {Doyle, J P and Frank, E and Saltzman, L E and McMahon, P M and Fielding, B D},
title = {Domestic violence and sexual abuse in women physicians: associated medical, psychiatric, and professional difficulties.},
journal = {Journal of women's health & gender-based medicine},
year = {1999},
doi = {10.1089/jwh.1.1999.8.955},
note = {PubMed: 10534298},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/doyle-1999-domestic-violence},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/doyle-1999-domestic-violence
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