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The etiologies and pathogeneses of medically unexplained, functional somatic symptoms are obscure. These include somatoform and somatization disorders and, often, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia, and irritable bowel syndromes. Previous studies examining the role of infections in somatoform disorders have yielded inconsistent findings. Dutch investigators retrospectively analyzed data from a general practitioners (GPs) network registry and a psychiatric registry on 185 patients seen in psychiatric clinics and diagnosed with undifferentiated somatoform disorder, somatization disorder, or pain disorder and on age-, sex-, and postal-code–matched controls without somatization or psychotic disorders.
The investigators analyzed GP visits for infectio…