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Fibromyalgia showed greater association with lupus than Sjögren’s syndrome
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Fibromyalgia appeared to contribute to symptoms more in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus than in patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome, according to study results.
Researchers in Italy studied 50 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE; mean age, 44.16 years) and 50 patients with primary Sjögren’s syndrome (pSS; mean age, 54.14 years). A 100-mm visual analog scale and Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire were used by patients to rate fatigue, pain and disease activity. Mood disorders were quantified through the Zung depression and anxiety scales. An algometer was used to evaluate tender points. Fibromyalgia (FM) was determined using 1990 American College of Rheumatology classification criteria.
Forty SLE patients (80%) and 44 patients with pSS (88%) reported fatigue, while 40 in the SLE cohort (80%) and 45 in the pSS group (90%) reported pain. Sixteen patients with SLE (33%) and nine patients with pSS (18%) were diagnosed with FM (P=.022). Patients with SLE had a mean of 7.5 positive tender points (TP) compared with 5.7 in patients with pSS. There also was a greater mean number of TP in patients with SLE and FM compared with those with pSS and FM (15.12 vs. 12.88; P=.02). In either group, no correlation with disease activity was noted.
“The results of our observation suggest that fatigue reported by pSS patients is mostly related to the disease itself, even if no significant correlation between fatigue and disease activity has been observed,” the researchers reported.
“Among the studies designed to compare fibromyalgia symptoms in [connective tissue diseases], the present one is the first to demonstrate a higher prevalence of FM in SLE than in pSS,” the researchers concluded. “FM seems to contribute to constitutional symptoms more in SLE than in pSS, suggesting a different underlying cause of fatigue and widespread pain in these two different connective tissue diseases.”
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