Characteristics of patients contacting a center for undiagnosed and rare diseases.
Mueller, Tobias, Jerrentrup, Andreas, Bauer, Max Jakob et al.·Orphanet journal of rare diseases·2016
This study looked at 522 adults who visited a hospital center for help with diseases that hadn't been diagnosed yet. Most patients were women, and their main complaints were general weakness, joint pain, and stomach discomfort. The researchers found that many patients had been given diagnoses like chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, or irritable bowel syndrome—conditions where symptoms are real but hard to explain with standard medical tests.