The prevalence of fibromyalgia in Japanese workers

• Published in: Scandinavian journal of rheumatology Vol. 36; no. 2; pp. 140 - 144
• Main Author: Toda, K.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Colchester Informa UK Ltd 01.01.2007; Taylor & Francis
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Cross-Sectional Studies; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Female; Fibromyalgia - epidemiology; Humans; Japan - epidemiology; Male; Medical sciences; Middle Aged; Miscellaneous. Osteoarticular involvement in other diseases; Personnel, Hospital - classification; Personnel, Hospital - statistics & numerical data; Prevalence; Japan; Striated muscle disease; Chronic; Pain; Prevalence; Musculoskeletal disorder; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Rheumatology; Fibromyalgia; Epidemiology
• ISSN: 0300-9742; 1502-7732
• DOI: 10.1080/03009740600907949

Objective: To estimate the point prevalence of fibromyalgia (FM) among hospital workers and to make a list of the reported FM prevalence using the classification criteria of the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) for FM. Methods: Three hundred and forty-three females and 196 males were surveyed using the 1990 ACR classification criteria of FM. The subjects were staff workers and non-staff workers (such as floor sweepers and personnel of pharmaceutical companies) who worked in medical institutions. Results: One hundred and six of the 343 females (30.9%) and 34 of the 196 males (17.3%) had complained of widespread pain for at least 3 months. All subjects who had complained of widespread pain for at least 3 months were examined by one experienced physician. Seven of the 343 females (2.04%) and one of the 196 males (0.51%) met the ACR criteria for FM. All of these eight subjects had seen a physician after the occurrence of widespread pain. Four of the eight subjects with FM had seen a physician in the past year. Only one subject had been diagnosed with FM before this study. Conclusion: The advantage of this study was the extremely low dropout rate. FM is a common musculoskeletal disorder among Japanese adult workers, especially among female workers.