Prevalence and incidence of fibromyalgia and associated severity in the United States using MarketScan

Fibromyalgia is characterized by a range of symptoms, the most prominent being chronic widespread pain, fatigue, and unrefreshing sleep. This study estimated the diagnosed annual prevalence, incidence, and severity of fibromyalgia among adults (≥18 years) and the pediatric population (<18 years).

This study used United States (US) claims data obtained from the Merative™ MarketScan^® Commercial (Commercial), Medicare (Medicare), and Multi-State Medicaid (Medicaid) databases.

In 2020, the annual prevalence of diagnosed fibromyalgia in adults and the pediatric population (0 to <18 years) was 0.44% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.44-0.45) and 0.01% (95% CI: 0.00-0.01), respectively, in Commercial + Medicare and 0.90% (95% CI: 0.89-0.91) and 0.003% (95% CI: 0.002-0.003) in Medicaid. The annual incidence of diagnosed fibromyalgia in adults and the pediatric population (0 to <18 years) in 2020 was 0.12% (95% CI: 0.12-0.12) and 0.003% (95% CI: 0.003-0.004), respectively, in Commercial + Medicare and 0.25% (95% CI: 0.25-0.26) and 0.002% (95% CI: 0.001-0.002) in Medicaid. Among adults with incident diagnosed fibromyalgia and ≥12, ≥24, or ≥36 months of follow-up, the proportion with severe fibromyalgia was 30.8%, 29.2%, and 30.1%, respectively, in Commercial + Medicare, and 37.8%, 39.4%, and 41.7%, respectively, in Medicaid.

This study provides an updated overview of the diagnosed annual prevalence, incidence, and severity of fibromyalgia in the US and represents the largest study of this kind using the MarketScan database. Further research is needed to validate algorithms for identifying severe fibromyalgia using real-world data.