Evidence for similarity in symptoms and mechanism: The extra-pulmonary symptoms of severe asthma and the polysymptomatic presentation of fibromyalgia.
Hyland, Michael E, Lanario, Joseph W, Wei, Yinghui et al.·Immunity, inflammation and disease·2019
This study found that people with severe asthma report many symptoms beyond breathing problems—such as fatigue, pain, and digestive issues—that are very similar to symptoms seen in fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue syndrome. The researchers compared symptom patterns between asthma patients and people with various functional disorders, finding that asthma and fibromyalgia symptoms were 75% similar in type and pattern. This suggests these conditions may share common underlying mechanisms related to how the body's systems interact.