Frissora, Christine L, Koch, Kenneth L · Current gastroenterology reports · 2005 · DOI
This review examined how irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) frequently occurs alongside other conditions, both in the digestive system and elsewhere in the body, including chronic fatigue syndrome and fibromyalgia. The authors explored why these conditions often happen together and what they might have in common. Understanding these connections could help doctors better recognize and treat patients who experience multiple overlapping symptoms.
This study is relevant to ME/CFS patients because it documents the frequent co-occurrence of IBS with chronic fatigue syndrome and explores shared pathophysiologic mechanisms like visceral hypersensitivity. Understanding these connections may help clinicians recognize gastrointestinal dysfunction as part of ME/CFS and guide more integrated treatment approaches.
This review does not establish causal relationships between IBS and other conditions, nor does it quantify prevalence rates of comorbidity. It also does not prove that shared mechanisms of visceral hypersensitivity are the primary drivers of symptom overlap, only that they may contribute.
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
Frissora, Christine L & Koch, Kenneth L (2005). Symptom overlap and comorbidity of irritable bowel syndrome with other conditions.. Current gastroenterology reports. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11894-005-0018-9
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-frissora-2005-symptom-overlap,
author = {Frissora, Christine L and Koch, Kenneth L},
title = {Symptom overlap and comorbidity of irritable bowel syndrome with other conditions.},
journal = {Current gastroenterology reports},
year = {2005},
doi = {10.1007/s11894-005-0018-9},
note = {PubMed: 16042909},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/frissora-2005-symptom-overlap},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/frissora-2005-symptom-overlap
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