Session Information
Title: Fibromyalgia, Soft Tissue Disorders, Regional and Specific Clinical Pain Syndromes: Research Focus
Session Type: Abstract Submissions (ACR)
Background/Purpose: We asked patients, as part of an in-office survey, whether their immediate or extended family members had FMS.
Methods: 211 office patients with either FMS (150; 130 women and 20 men; mean age 51 +/- 12) and RA (61; 45 women and 16 men; mean age 55 +/-15) completed a questionnaire about FMS in family members. The chi-square test of association was used to compare the responses of FMS and RA patients, with a 0.05 significance level.
Results: FMS patients were significantly more likely than RA patients to report that members of their immediate families had FMS (24% vs. 7%, p = 0.005), and that members of their extended families had FMS (17% vs. 6%, p = 0.041). FMS patients were also significantly more likely than RA patients to report that some members of their families had widespread pain and chronic fatigue (52% vs. 18%, p < 0.001).
Conclusion: Patients with FMS appear to have more family members affected by this illness, compared to RA controls. One quarter to one half of family members of FMS patients may have fibromyalgia according to the patients. This suggests that widespread pain and the other symptoms of fibromyalgia may be inherited as a trait and may be present commonly in family members.
Disclosure:
R. S. Katz,
None;
B. J. Small,
None;
L. Kwan,
None;
H. Bond,
None;
J. L. Polyak,
None;
S. Shott,
None.
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