Doebl et al. compared the effect of symptoms and the healthcare use of people with fibromyalgia with those who fulfilled the criteria for fibromyalgia but had not been diagnosed and those with chronic pain. They found patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia reported the poorest healthcare experiences and were more likely than other study participants to be unemployed due to health issues. Their findings reveal an urgent need exists for a model of care for patients with fibromyalgia.
A recent paper illustrates how using different fibromyalgia criteria affects reports of its prevalence.1 Writing in Arthritis Care & Research, researchers found the Analgesic, Anesthetic, and Addiction Clinical Trial Translations, Innovations, Opportunities, and Networks–American Pain Society Pain Taxonomy (AAPT) criteria caused far more people to be categorized as having fibromyalgia than criteria put forth by…
Younger individuals (<50 years) have a stronger genetic component in their fibromyalgia score than older individuals (>60 years), according to a study published in Arthritis & Rheumatology.1 Studies that suggest a strong familial component to fibromyalgia have often focused on individuals with primary fibromyalgia who did not have another accompanying disorder, the study authors report….
NEW YORK (Reuters Health)—Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) is more effective than treatment as usual for improving function and other outcomes in patients with fibromyalgia, according to a new randomized trial. MBSR is an extension of cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT) intended to help patients change the way they experience symptoms, Dr. Albert Feliu-Soler of the Institut de…
Using vibrational spectroscopy, investigators have discovered a characteristic signature in the blood of fibromyalgia patients that is distinct from other clinical conditions, including RA, OA and SLE…
Recent research demonstrated that fibromyalgia patients have lower cerebral blood flow velocity variability than healthy controls, which may reflect impaired coordination of cerebral regulatory systems. This analysis may be a promising tool for characterizing fibromyalgia pathology and understanding health-related quality of life…
Mirtazapine has been prescribed off-label to fibromyalgia patients who have not responded to other treatments. However, a recent systemic review found no difference between mirtazapine and placebo for these patients, and any potential benefits from mirtazapine may not outweigh its potential harm, including drowsiness, weight gain and liver damage…
A recent study found that the perception of experimentally induced pain is closely associated with neurocognitive symptoms, such as attention, memory and executive function, in fibromyalgia patients. Specifically, fibromyalgia patients described low-intensity pressure as more painful than controls did…
New research evaluated the effect of depression on the cognition of fibromyalgia patients, finding that these patients have a distinct cognitive profile. Researchers note that emotional symptoms, such as depression and anxiety, are essential to the cognitive performance of fibromyalgia patients and that treating these symptoms may reduce cognitive impairment…
Many patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) report pain despite excellent control of inflammation with immunotherapies. Variable degrees of coexisting fibromyalgia (FM) may explain this disparity. RA patients who have the highest 2011 ACR FM survey criteria scores appear to share neurobiologic features consistently observed in FM patients. This study is the first to provide neuroimaging evidence that RA is a mixed pain state, with many patients’ symptoms being related to the central nervous system rather than to classic inflammatory mechanisms…