Tarar, Zahid Ijaz, Farooq, Umer, Nawaz, Ahmad et al. · Biomedicines · 2023 · DOI
This study looked at hospital records from 2016-2019 to see how often people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) also have fibromyalgia or ME/CFS. Researchers found that people with IBS are about 5 times more likely to have fibromyalgia and about 5 times more likely to have ME/CFS compared to people without IBS. Women, older adults, and white patients were at higher risk for both conditions.
This study demonstrates a strong statistical link between IBS and ME/CFS, suggesting shared underlying mechanisms or risk factors between these conditions. Understanding these associations may help clinicians recognize patients at higher risk and could inform research into common pathophysiological pathways affecting the gastrointestinal and immune systems in ME/CFS.
This study does not establish whether IBS causes ME/CFS, whether ME/CFS causes IBS, or whether both stem from a common underlying condition—it only shows they frequently co-occur. The reliance on hospital discharge ICD-10 codes may miss many cases, particularly mild ones, and may not capture undiagnosed or misdiagnosed patients. Cross-sectional design means we cannot determine the temporal sequence of symptom onset.
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
Tarar, Zahid Ijaz, Farooq, Umer, Nawaz, Ahmad, Gandhi, Mustafa, Ghouri, Yezaz A, Bhatt, Asmeen, et al. (2023). Prevalence of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome among Individuals with Irritable Bowel Syndrome: An Analysis of United States National Inpatient Sample Database.. Biomedicines. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomedicines11102594
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-tarar-2023-prevalence-fibromyalgia,
author = {Tarar, Zahid Ijaz and Farooq, Umer and Nawaz, Ahmad and Gandhi, Mustafa and Ghouri, Yezaz A and Bhatt, Asmeen and Cash, Brooks D},
title = {Prevalence of Fibromyalgia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome among Individuals with Irritable Bowel Syndrome: An Analysis of United States National Inpatient Sample Database.},
journal = {Biomedicines},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.3390/biomedicines11102594},
note = {PubMed: 37892968},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/tarar-2023-prevalence-fibromyalgia},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/tarar-2023-prevalence-fibromyalgia
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