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Fibromyalgia Pain Diagnostic Criteria Examined
J Rheumatol; ePub 2016 Jul 1; Wolfe, Egloff, et al
In usual clinical and epidemiological studies, the 2010 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) preliminary diagnostic criteria for fibromyalgia (FM) pain and its 2011 modification work well, but are not as effective in patients with asymmetrical or regional pain who do not satisfy a widespread pain criterion, a recent study found. Researchers studied 5,011 FM patients who satisfied the 2011 criteria. They found:
• There were 4,700 patients (93.8%) who satisfied the ACR 1990 widespread pain criterion.
• Using a new strict definition for 5 pain regions based on the Widespread Pain Index (WPI) sites, a modified widespread pain criterion requiring 4 of 5 regions identified 98.8% of criteria-positive patients.
• Patients without widespread pain or those in the low WPI/high Symptom Severity Scale (SSS) had milder FM and no evidence of increased psychological or physical distress.
Wolfe F, Egloff N, Häuser. Widespread pain and low widespread pain index scores among fibromyalgia-positive cases assessed with the 2010/2011 fibromyalgia criteria. [Published online ahead of print July 1, 2016]. J Rheumatol. doi:10.3899/jrheum.160153.