One year outcome of preadolescents with fibromyalgia

Objective. Twenty-two children with fibromyalgia (FM), found in a populatio n based study of 1756 Finnish preadolescents, were prospectively and blindl y followed for one year to investigate their physical and psychological bac kground factors and to determine the one year persistence of FM. Methods. The American College of Rheumatology 1990 criteria for FM were use d. Widespread pain was determined with a structured, pretested pain questio nnaire, including items on disability both at baseline and at followup. At baseline, hypermobility was tested with Beighton's method and aerobic capac ity with a 20 m shuttle run test, and psychological data were collected usi ng the Children's Depression inventory (CDI), a sleep questionnaire, and th e Child Behavior Checklist and Teacher's Report Form. At followup, evaluati ons with the CDI and sleep questionnaire were repeated. Results. At baseline, the prevalence of FM was 1.3% (95% CI 0.8 to 1.9). At followup, 16/22 (73%) children were available for evaluation; 4 (25%) had persistent FM. Children with FM had low pain thresholds. Only one of 19 chi ldren had hypermobility. Those with persistent FM had persistent subjective disability. Depressive symptoms diminished, but there was still comorbidit y of pain and depressive symptoms at followup. Conclusion. This study supports a previous one, in which FM in children had a good outcome. However, fluctuation of pain symptoms in children might pa rtly explain the outcome. Children with persistent FM showed persistent dis ability with a number of distress symptoms.