[Comparative studies of the incidence of vegetative and functional disorders in backache and generalized...

The incidence of 14 different vegetative and functional symptoms in patients with generalized tendomyopathy (fibromyalgia), chronic low back pain syndrome, and healthy controls was compared. The presence of these symptoms was a common finding in patients with generalized tendomyopathy. Although not so frequent, a number of these symptoms was also found in patients with chronic low back pain syndrome. Our findings suggest that presence of 7 or more symptoms is typical for generalized tendomyopathy and could be used as an additional criterium for diagnosis and classification of this disease. Further prospective studies are needed for confirming the hypothesis that chronic low back pain syndrome could lead to generalized tendomyopathy.