Khoo, Thomas, Proudman, Susanna, Limaye, Vidya · Clinical rheumatology · 2019 · DOI
This study looked at whether silicone breast implants are linked to depression, fibromyalgia, or ME/CFS in women visiting a rheumatology clinic. Researchers compared 30 women with breast implants to similar women without implants, some of whom had other autoimmune diseases. They found that fibromyalgia and ME/CFS were slightly more common in women with implants compared to those with systemic sclerosis, but not compared to those with lupus.
Understanding potential links between environmental exposures and ME/CFS development is important for identifying risk factors and mechanisms. This study contributes to the broader discussion of ASIA (autoimmune syndrome induced by adjuvants) and whether medical implants might trigger or exacerbate ME/CFS-like conditions in susceptible individuals.
This study does not establish that silicone implants cause ME/CFS or fibromyalgia—it only shows an association in one comparison group. The retrospective design cannot determine whether implants preceded symptom onset in most cases, and the small sample size limits statistical power. The findings may reflect selection bias in which patients were referred to rheumatology clinics rather than a true causal relationship.
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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