[Understanding fibromyalgia]

This study was aimed at describing the main features of articles published in scientific journals between 1992 and 2007 addressing the analysis of the etiological factors associated with this condition.

This consisted of a systematic review of scientific articles regarding this association using the following health and social science databases: Medline, Cinhal, Web of Science, Lilacs, Sociological Abstracts, Embase, Psycoinfo and ISI web of Knowledge.

21 articles were obtained during the study period, distributed as follows: 7 theoretical reviews (33.3 %), 6 cross-sectional studies (28.5 %), 4 cohort studies, (19.0 %) 2 case-control studies (9.5 %) and 1 systematic review (4.7 %). Of these, 7 (33.3 %) considered the following to risk factors to be associated with the emergence of other factors such as silicone implants, socio-demographic and hormonal factors: 3 on stress (14.3 %), 4 on hepatitis C (19.0 %), 3 on traumatic antecedents (14.3 %) and 4 on occupation (19.0 %). The most productive time was 2000-2004. There was broad thematic dispersion in the published journals.

Available empirical evidence about risk factors related to fibromyalgia is still scarce and scattered. Future studies should focus on generating more knowledge about the risk factors studied so as to help improve fibromyalgia care, diagnosis and treatment.