Factors associated with severity of symptoms in patients with chronic unexplained muscular aching.
Subjects with chronic, diffuse, unexplained muscular aching were recruited--21 from a primary care practice, nine from a rheumatology practice, and two from a pain clinic. No additional criteria were used to select subjects. Subjects with mild or moderate symptoms differed from those with severe symptoms with respect to the following characteristics: the presence of fatigue on awakening, the number of tender points, difficulty in sleeping, and the degree of tenderness in typical fibromyalgia areas as measured by a dolorimeter. These findings suggest that muscular aching is likely to be of greater severity if other symptoms or signs of fibromyalgia are also present.
Kolar
E
E
Department of Family and Community Medicine, Milton S Hershey Medical Center, Pennsylvania State University, Hershey.
Hartz
A
A
Roumm
A
A
Ryan
L
L
Jones
R
R
Kirchdoerfer
E
E
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002908:Chronic Disease; D004777:Environment; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000150:complications / Q000473:pathology; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009132:Muscles / Q000473:pathology; D009135:Muscular Diseases / Q000209:etiology / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D012890:Sleep