Clinical characteristics of patients with fibromyalgia

Fibromyalgia, also known as fibrositis and muscle rheumatism, is a common, noninflammatory, painful musculoskeletal disorder. It is common between the ages of 30 and 60 years and has a female to male ratio of 5 to 1. Essential symptoms of fibrositis are pain, fatigue, disturbed sleep, morning stiffness and local tenderness. Subjective swelling, paresthesia and numbness sometimes occur. Multiple host and environmental factors seem to contribute to the onset and course of fibromyalgia. Modest improvement follows treatment by antidepressive agents, physical measures and reduction in stress. In this study 60 patients with fibromyalgia were investigated and the clinical characteristics of these patients are described and compared with those in other studies.