LOOSE JOINTS...TIGHT BODY...WHERE'S THE CONNECTION ?

WESTPORT, Aug 17 (Reuters Health) - Patients diagnosed with primary fibromyalgia but who do not fulfill the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for the disorder may in fact have joint hypermobility, according to a report published in the July issue of the Journal of Rheumatology.

Dr. Seminur Haznedaroglu and colleagues from Fatih University School of Medicine, in Ankara, Turkey, explain that previous studies have suggested that joint hypermobility may play a role in the pathogenesis of primary fibromyalgia. Their aim in the present study was to determine the association between these two clinical entities.

The investigators studied 88 patients with widespread pain clinically resembling primary fibromyalgia, and 90 matched healthy controls. Subjects were then blindly evaluated according to clinical criteria for joint hypermobility and primary fibromyalgia.

The study team found that 56 of the 88 patients initially diagnosed with fibromyalgia and 6 of the 90 controls met the ACR criteria for primary fibromyalgia.

Among primary fibromyalgia patients who did not exactly meet ACR criteria, the incidence of joint hypermobility was 31%, which, the authors report, was significantly higher than that in the control group. Among patients with widespread pain, 16% had associated joint hypermobility.

In light of their findings, the researchers conclude that patients who fail to meet the exact ACR criteria of primary fibromyalgia could have joint hypermobility, and may have been misdiagnosed with primary fibromyalgia.

J Rheumatol 2000;27:1774-1779.