{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2026,10,1]],"date-time":"2026-10-01T16:20:50Z","timestamp":1790871650118,"version":"4.1.0"},"reference-count":54,"publisher":"Frontiers Media SA","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,4]],"date-time":"2025-12-04T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1764806400000},"content-version":"vor","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/4.0\/"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["frontiersin.org"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["Front. Psychol."],"abstract":"<jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Background<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>Fibromyalgia (FM) and irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) are increasingly recognized as disorders involving central sensory processing and gut\u2013brain axis dysregulation, often accompanied by autonomic and psychological disturbances.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Methods<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>\n                      We investigated whether patients with comorbid FM and IBS (FM\u202f+\u202fIBS) experience greater somatization and reduced quality of life (QoL) compared to those with either condition alone, and if somatization serves as a predictor of gastrointestinal (GI) symptom severity. In this cross-sectional study, 53 adults (mean age 47.4\u202f\u00b1\u202f1.3\u202fyears; 48 women) were classified into three groups: FM-only (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f13), IBS-only (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f18), and FM\u202f+\u202fIBS (\n                      <jats:italic>n<\/jats:italic>\n                      \u202f=\u202f22). Participants completed validated assessments including the IBS Symptom Severity Scale, the Symptom Checklist-90-Revised, the Perceived Stress Scale, and QoL measures (SF-36, WHOQOL-BREF). Group differences were analyzed using the Kruskal-Wallis test, and predictors of IBS severity were identified via stepwise multiple linear regression.\n                    <\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Results<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>FM-only and FM\u202f+\u202fIBS patients reported similar levels of pain, fatigue, and functional impact. GI symptoms were mild in FM-only patients but moderate in IBS-only and FM\u202f+\u202fIBS groups, with large effect sizes for psychological distress, mental health, and IBS severity. While FM\u202f+\u202fIBS participants showed slightly higher FM-related symptom scores, differences were not statistically significant. Somatization and diagnostic group independently predicted IBS severity, together explaining 50% of the variance.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>\n                  <jats:sec>\n                    <jats:title>Conclusion<\/jats:title>\n                    <jats:p>These findings demonstrate a progressive increase in somatization and a parallel decline in QoL across the spectrum from IBS-only to FM-only to FM\u202f+\u202fIBS, supporting the concept of functional somatic syndromes as a continuum. Incorporating routine assessment of somatization and QoL impairment may help identify patients at higher risk of treatment resistance and facilitate timely, integrated biopsychosocial strategies, including cognitive-behavioral and neuromodulatory interventions.<\/jats:p>\n                  <\/jats:sec>","DOI":"10.3389\/fpsyg.2025.1709017","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,4]],"date-time":"2025-12-04T14:20:38Z","timestamp":1764858038000},"update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.3389\/crossmark-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Somatization, psychological distress, and quality of life across fibromyalgia, irritable bowel syndrome, and their comorbid phenotype: a cross-sectional clinical comparison"],"prefix":"10.3389","volume":"16","author":[{"given":"Laura","family":"Prospero","sequence":"first","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Giuseppe","family":"Riezzo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Gaetana","family":"Laselva","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Benedetta","family":"D\u2019Attoma","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Antonia","family":"Ignazzi","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francesco","family":"Goscilo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Antonella","family":"Bianco","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Isabella","family":"Franco","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Nicola","family":"Verrelli","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Claudia Beatrice","family":"Bagnato","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Sergio","family":"Coletta","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Maria Grazia","family":"Refolo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]},{"given":"Francesco","family":"Russo","sequence":"additional","affiliation":[],"role":[{"vocabulary":"crossref","role":"author"}]}],"member":"1965","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2025,12,4]]},"reference":[{"key":"ref1","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","first-page":"96","DOI":"10.2174\/1573397111666150619095330","article-title":"Psychosocial factors and central sensitivity syndromes","volume":"11","author":"Adams","year":"2015","journal-title":"Curr. 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