Exploring the comorbidity of musculoskeletal and personality disorders among adults: a scoping review protocol

BACKGROUND: Separately, mental and musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs) are prevalent across the life course and are leading contributors to disability worldwide. While people with personality disorder (PD) have been shown to have an increased risk of certain physical health comorbidities—associations with MSDs have not been thoroughly explored. The proposed scoping review aims to explore the existing clinical- and population-based literature on the comorbidity of PD and MSDs among adults ≥ 18 years and the burden associated with their comorbidity, identify knowledge gaps on this topic, and propose recommendations for future research. METHODS: This protocol describes the methodology to undertake the scoping review. It is guided by Arksey and O’Malley’s framework and the extensions recommended by the Joanna Briggs Institute. A comprehensive search strategy will be used to identify relevant articles, which will be underpinned by Population, Concept, and Context (PCC) inclusion criteria. One author will perform the search and two authors will independently screen titles/abstracts followed by a full-text review for articles considered relevant. The supervising author will confirm the final selection of articles to be included. One author will extract relevant information from the articles using a predetermined charting form, while a second will perform validation of all information entered. DISCUSSION: Information will be synthesised to inform a discussion of what is known regarding associations between PD and MSDs, and the burden associated with their comorbidity in different contexts, with future research directions proposed. SYSTEMATIC REVIEW REGISTRATION: This protocol is registered in Open Science Framework Registries (https://osf.io/mxbr2/). SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s13643-021-01721-6.