FibromyalgiaPrevalence of Fibromyalgia: A Survey in Five European Countries
Section snippets
Screening Questionnaire
The screening questionnaire used was the LFESSQ developed by the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Rheumatology Division of the University of London in Western Ontario (12). This 6-item questionnaire was designed with 4 items relating to widespread pain plus 2 items relating to fatigue (Table 1). According to White and coworkers (12), a positive screen was defined in 1 of the 2 following ways: (a) meeting the pain criteria alone (LFESSQ-4), or (b) meeting both the pain and the
Demographic Characteristics
The demographic characteristics of rheumatology outpatients (n = 1125) and representative community subjects (n = 4517) are presented in Table 2.
Regarding outpatients, their mean (SD) age was 56 (15) years, and 75% (95% CI: 72 to 77) were women. The proportion of women was significantly higher in France, Germany, and Portugal (81-85%) than in Italy and Spain (64-65%) and Spanish patients were the oldest. Compared with rheumatology outpatients, community subjects were significantly younger (45 ±
Discussion
To our knowledge, this is the first study that provides estimates of FM prevalence in the general population of 5 European countries using identical methodology. For this purpose, a screening questionnaire, the LFESSQ, was administered via telephone to national probabilistic samples of community subjects of more than 15 years old.
The sensitivity of LFESSQ-4 (widespread pain) and LFESSQ-6 (widespread pain and fatigue) criteria sets for FM (according to ACR criteria) were reported to be 100% (95%
Acknowledgments
Ten rheumatologists authored the present article. All participated in data collection in 8 rheumatology outpatient clinics for which they received financial support from Pierre Fabre. The Public Health, Quality of Life, Health Economics teams of Pierre Fabre provided technical assistance, material, and financial support for the survey performed in representative community samples.
References (19)
- et al.
Chronic widespread musculoskeletal painA comparison of those who meet criteria for fibromyalgia and those who do not
Eur J Pain
(2008) - et al.
Cross-cultural adaptation of health-related quality of life measures: literature review and proposed guidelines
J Clin Epidemiol
(1993) - et al.
Survey of chronic pain in Europe: prevalence, impact on daily life and treatment
Eur J Pain
(2006) - et al.
Epidemiology of chronic widespread pain
Best Pract Res Clin Rheumatol
(2007) - et al.
The American College of Rheumatology 1990 criteria for the classification of fibromyalgia: report of the Multicenter Criteria Committee
Arthritis Rheum
(1990) - et al.
The prevalence and meaning of fatigue in rheumatic disease
J Rheumatol
(1996) - et al.
Classification, epidemiology, and natural history of fibromyalgia
Curr Pain Headache Rep
(2001) - et al.
Estimates of the prevalence of arthritis and selected musculoskeletal disorders in the United States
Arthritis Rheum
(1998) - et al.
The London Fibromyalgia Epidemiology Study: the prevalence of fibromyalgia syndrome in London, Ontario
J Rheumatol
(1999)
Cited by (0)
This work was supported by the Public Health Department of Pierre Fabre.