ArticleSocial science & medicine (1982)2018
Syndemics: A theory in search of data or data in search of a theory?
Article in Social science & medicine (1982), 2018. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 87 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
87 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 169 citations in OpenAlex.
- Gender-based violence syndemics in global health: A systematic review.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2025Pooled it
- The impact of multiple-behavior HIV interventions as a function of regional disadvantages: An analysis of syndemics.Journal of consulting and clinical psychology · 2023Pooled it
- Trial
- The impact of a syndemic theory-based intervention on HIV transmission risk behaviour among men who have sex with men in India: Pretest-posttest non-equivalent comparison group trial.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2022Trial
- The syndemic nexus: How vaccine hesitancy and COVID-19 interact to influence vaccine uptake among university students.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Article
- Characteristics of COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy in university students: Methodological insights from a syndemic perspective.Human vaccines & immunotherapeutics · 2026Article
- Reframing Obesity as Collective Vulnerability in Black Churches in The USA: Implications for Clergy Leadership, Health Equity, and Pastoral Identity.Journal of religion and health · 2026Article
- Financial Barriers, Mental Health, and Medication Nonadherence Among Individuals With Chronic Pain.Public health challenges · 2026Article
- Structures of survival: Syndemic pathways to care among people with HIV involved with the criminal legal system.Social science & medicine (1982) · 2026Article
- Psychosocial stressors related to extreme weather events and multiple resource insecurities: qualitative insights from refugee youth in an Ugandan humanitarian setting.SSM. Mental health · 2026Article
- Health-Related Quality of Life Deterioration Among Tuberculosis Patients During the COVID-19 Pandemic: a Convergent Mixed-Methods Study of Syndemic Vulnerability in Urban Bangladesh.Journal of epidemiology and global health · 2026Article
- Paleopathology Meets Public Health: Deep-Time Syndemics and the Ecology of Emerging Infections.Pathogens (Basel, Switzerland) · 2026Review
- Article
- Stigma, Food Insecurity, and Limited Social Support as Psychosocial Correlates of Antiretroviral Therapy Adherence Among Pregnant Women Living With HIV: Cross-Sectional Study.JMIR public health and surveillance · 2026Article
- Compulsive sexual behavior disorder (CSBD) and problematic pornography use (PPU): A comprehensive, interdisciplinary, and expert-informed narrative review with suggested future directions.Journal of behavioral addictions · 2026Review
- Towards a burden of disease research agenda.Population health metrics · 2026Article
- Article
- Parenting under the triple burden of violence, depression, and poor diet quality: An intergenerational mother-child syndemic in Nepal.PLOS global public health · 2026Article
- Neighborhood spikes in drug and alcohol overdoses and subsequent suicide: A serial cross-sectional study of California ZIP codes.Preventive medicine reports · 2026Article
- Influence of alcohol on the worsening of COVID-19 and the occurrence of long COVID.Revista latino-americana de enfermagem · 2026Article
27 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
Abstract
The concept of a syndemic was proposed more than two decades ago to explain how large-scale social forces might give rise to co-occurring epidemics that synergistically interact to undermine health in vulnerable populations. This conceptual instrument has the potential to help policymakers and program implementers in their endeavors to improve population health. Accordingly, it has become an increasingly popular heuristic for advocacy, most notably in the field of HIV treatment and prevention. However, most empirical studies purporting to validate the theory of syndemics actually do no such thing. Tomori et al. (2018) provide a novel case study from India illustrating how the dominant empirical approach fails to promote deeper understanding about how hazardous alcohol use, illicit drug use, depression, childhood sexual abuse, and intimate partner violence interact to worsen HIV risk among men who have sex with men. In this commentary, I relate the theory of syndemics to other established social science and public health theories of disease distribution, identify possible sources of conceptual and empirical confusion, and provide concrete suggestions for how to validate the theory using a mixed-methods approach. The hope is that more evidence can be mobilized -- whether informed by the theory of syndemics or not -- to improve health and psychosocial wellbeing among vulnerable populations worldwide.
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What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.