Sperber, Ami D, Dekel, Roy · Journal of neurogastroenterology and motility · 2010 · DOI
Many people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) also experience other chronic conditions like fibromyalgia or chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). When patients have IBS plus another functional disorder, their symptoms tend to be worse, they report lower quality of life, and they miss more work. This suggests these conditions may share common underlying mechanisms rather than being completely separate diseases.
For ME/CFS patients and researchers, this work highlights the clinical reality that most ME/CFS patients experience concurrent gastrointestinal dysfunction and potentially other functional disorders. Understanding these overlapping conditions may help clinicians recognize and manage the full symptom burden, and it raises important questions about whether shared pathophysiological mechanisms underlie these syndromes—knowledge that could inform more unified diagnostic and treatment approaches.
This editorial does not establish causality or determine whether IBS and ME/CFS share a common biological mechanism versus arising from separate processes. It does not prove that psychological factors cause these conditions, only that they may influence symptom presentation. The review does not provide definitive prevalence data, as reported estimates vary widely across studies, suggesting heterogeneity in case definitions and study populations.
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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Primary citation
Sperber, Ami D & Dekel, Roy (2010). Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Co-morbid Gastrointestinal and Extra-gastrointestinal Functional Syndromes.. Journal of neurogastroenterology and motility. https://doi.org/10.5056/jnm.2010.16.2.113
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-sperber-2010-irritable-bowel,
author = {Sperber, Ami D and Dekel, Roy},
title = {Irritable Bowel Syndrome and Co-morbid Gastrointestinal and Extra-gastrointestinal Functional Syndromes.},
journal = {Journal of neurogastroenterology and motility},
year = {2010},
doi = {10.5056/jnm.2010.16.2.113},
note = {PubMed: 20535341},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sperber-2010-irritable-bowel},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sperber-2010-irritable-bowel
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