title: A high tender point count is associated with the presence of multiple idiopathic pain disorders: results from a population study.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To test whether mechanical hyperalgesia is associated with multiple idiopathic pain disorders (IPDs) and whether this relationship is independent of the confounding effects of psychosocial factors.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred eighteen subjects with chronic orofacial pain (COFP) were identified from their questionnaire responses to a population study in North West England. All subjects had a tender point examination according to the American College of Rheumatology classification. Validated tools on the questionnaire were used to identify presence of other IPDs (irritable bowel syndrome and chronic widespread pain) and psychosocial factors (anxiety, depression, health anxiety, sleep disturbance and reporting of somatic symptoms and adverse life events).
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 118 subjects, 47.6% (n = 56) had COFP, 34.7% (n = 41) had COFP plus one IPD and 17.8% (n = 21) had all three IPDs. Univariate analysis revealed a dose-response relationship between number of tender points (TPs) and number of IPDs [2-6 TPs (OR 2.6, 95% CI 1.0-7.3), ≥ 7 TPs (OR 10.5, 95% CI 3.8-29.3)] and number of IPDs and psychological distress [anxiety (OR 2.8, 95% CI 1.2-6.4), depression (OR 4.3, 95% CI 1.7-10.6), sleep disturbance (OR 4.8, 95% CI 1.6-14.6)]. The relationship between IPDs and TPs persisted after adjusting for psychosocial factors in multivariate analyses [2-6 TPs (OR 2.5, 95% CI 0.8-7.8) ≥ 7 TPs (OR 10.7, 95% CI 3.4-33.7)].
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The dose-response relationship between TPs and IPDs needs further investigation to determine the temporal nature of these relationships and to disentangle the complex gene-environment relationships that may influence the occurrence of multiple IPDs.
authors.affiliation: Oral Health Unit, School of Dentistry, Manchester Biomedical Research Centre, University of Manchester, UK. vishal.r.aggarwal@manchester.ac.uk
authors.forename: V R
authors.initials: VR
authors.lastname: Aggarwal
authors.forename: G J
authors.initials: GJ
authors.lastname: Macfarlane
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: McBeth
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001007:Anxiety / Q000523:psychology; D003863:Depression / Q000523:psychology; D005157:Facial Pain / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D006930:Hyperalgesia / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement / Q000523:psychology; D013001:Somatoform Disorders / Q000503:physiopathology* / Q000523:psychology; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires