Fibromyalgia & musculoskeletal pain
Reconsidering the boundaries between fibromyalgia and post-traumatic stress disorder: evidence from label-free distributional similarity analysis in 2,470 participants
Authors' conclusion
These findings question the strict nosological separation of FM and PTSD and are compatible with a spectrum model of stress-related disorders.
Study context
- Population
- Adults aged 18–65 years with self-reported fibromyalgia (FM) or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), and healthy controls, international online survey
- Exposure
- FM vs PTSD vs healthy controls
- Outcome
- Between-group distributional similarity (Hellinger distance) across somatic, psychological and affective domains
Methodological detailsinternational, online survey, adaptive sub-sampling with bootstrap resampling, Hellinger distance, stability analyses
- International
- Online survey
- Adaptive sub-sampling with bootstrap resampling
- Hellinger distance
- Stability analyses
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
Between-group similarity across somatic, psychological and affective domains (threat, drive and soothing systems)
- FM and PTSD showed substantial overlap with limited discriminatory capacity
- Both FM and PTSD differed clearly from healthy controls
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Further findings
Co-occurrence of FM and PTSD criteria
- Nearly half of participants meeting criteria for one condition also met criteria for the other (high co-occurrence)
Parts of this Brief are withheld: the automatic checks could not confirm them against the abstract.
Original publication
Reconsidering the boundaries between fibromyalgia and post-traumatic stress disorder: evidence from label-free distributional similarity analysis in 2,470 participants. Clin Exp Rheumatol. Published 22 June 2026. doi:10.
Composed by AI from the published abstract and checked against it. How Briefs are made →