title: Is there an association between fibromyalgia and below-normal levels of urinary cortisol?
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Adynamia in fibromyalgia (FM) may be an expression of a functional deficit of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and be associated with below-normal levels of urinary cortisol. Our aim was to demonstrate that urinary cortisol was lower in patients with FM than in healthy subjects.
  
  
  RESULTS
  We measured urinary cortisol levels for a sample of 47 women aged 29 to 64 years (mean age 53 years), diagnosed with FM 2-3 years previously, and compared the results with those for a control sample of 58 healthy women of a similar age. Samples of 24-hour urine were appropriately collected and levels of urinary cortisol were measured using the fluorescence polarization immunoassay method. The mean cortisol value for the women with FM was 65.40 +/- 27.10 mug/L, significantly lower than the mean cortisol level for the control group, at 90.83 +/- 38.17 mug/L (p < 0.001).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our study confirms that women with FM have significantly lower urinary cortisol levels than healthy women.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry (Hormonal Section), Hospital Universitario Miguel Servet, Zaragoza, Spain. sizquierdo@salud.aragon.es.
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Izquierdo-Alvarez
authors.forename: Julia Pilar
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Bocos-Terraz
authors.forename: Jose Luis
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Bancalero-Flores
authors.forename: Lenin
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Pavón-Romero
authors.forename: Enrique
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Serrano-Ostariz
authors.forename: Cayetano Alegre
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: de Miquel