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People with factitious disorder (also called Munchausen syndrome) deliberately cause signs and symptoms of disease for the sole purpose of becoming patients; for example, they might inject themselves with feces or insulin. These patients can consume massive amounts of medical resources, time, and energy, because hospitalizations, diagnostic tests, and interventions fail to provide a logical etiology or to alleviate symptoms.
In this retrospective analysis, investigators searched medical databases to identify all patients with factitious disorder who were seen at Mayo Clinic during a 21-year period. Ninety-two patients were identified: 72% were women, 71% had at least a high-school education, and 69% were employed or were full-time students. …