Smith, Steven J, Sichlau, Michael, Sewall, Luke E et al. · Phlebology · 2022 · DOI
This study surveyed women with pelvic congestion syndrome (a vascular condition affecting pelvic blood vessels) to see how often they also experience other medical conditions like chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and irritable bowel syndrome. Researchers found that these co-occurring conditions were much more common in this group than in the general population, suggesting that these conditions may be connected in ways we don't yet understand.
This study identifies a potential cluster of overlapping conditions—including ME/CFS—that occur together more often than chance would suggest in people with pelvic congestion syndrome. Understanding these associations may help researchers identify shared biological mechanisms and inform better diagnostic and treatment approaches for patients experiencing multiple overlapping illnesses.
This study does not prove that pelvic congestion syndrome causes chronic fatigue syndrome or other comorbidities, nor does it establish the direction of causality. The study relies entirely on self-reported diagnoses without independent clinical verification, so actual prevalence rates may differ. The self-selected sample from a support group website may not represent all people with pelvic congestion syndrome, potentially overestimating comorbidity rates.
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
Smith, Steven J, Sichlau, Michael, Sewall, Luke E, Smith, B Holly, Chen, Brenda, Khurana, Neal, et al. (2022). An online survey of pelvic congestion support group members regarding comorbid symptoms and syndromes.. Phlebology. https://doi.org/10.1177/02683555221112567
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-smith-2022-online-survey,
author = {Smith, Steven J and Sichlau, Michael and Sewall, Luke E and Smith, B Holly and Chen, Brenda and Khurana, Neal and Rowe, Peter C},
title = {An online survey of pelvic congestion support group members regarding comorbid symptoms and syndromes.},
journal = {Phlebology},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1177/02683555221112567},
note = {PubMed: 35831253},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/smith-2022-online-survey},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-27. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/smith-2022-online-survey
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