Female adolescent rheumatological presentations: the importance of chronic pain syndromes

The clinical features of 60 female adolescents (mean age 15 +/- 0.3 years) presenting consecutively to a rheumatologist are reviewed. Thirty-five per cent met criteria for well-defined chronic pain syndromes, 19 having fibrositis syndrome and two having a reflex sympathetic dystrophy syndrome. Other diagnoses were inflammatory arthritis (30%), anterior knee pain syndromes (13.3%), tendinitis (8.3%) and miscellaneous conditions (13.3%). The high prevalence of chronic pain syndromes in this patient group is highlighted and an approach to management is suggested.