Fibromyalgia Syndrome Research articles from October

Some of the most interesting research relevant to Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro) that has been published over the last month and discussed in the FibroAction Research section is summarised here.

Fibromyalgia Syndrome and physical trauma

There is still no agreement among experts as to whether physical trauma can cause Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro) say a group of Israeli researchers in a recent article.

According to the researchers, 25-50% of Fibro patients report the occurrence of a physical trauma happening not long before their symptoms started, with whiplash often being given as a trigger for Fibro. However research studies looking for a direct link between physical trauma and Fibro have come to contradicting conclusions. Possibly factors such as genetic pre-disposition, people's past experience and how they respond to trauma have such an effect that larger studies are needed. In the meantime, the evidence for a direct link between whiplash injury and Fibro remains unclear.

Twin Study suggests that Fibromyalgia Syndrome has a strong genetic background

Fibro symptoms seem to have a strong genetic background, according to a recent article .

The researchers studied the prevalence of Fibro related symptoms in 12,502 like-sexed twins of the Finnish Twin Cohort to see whether there was evidence for a genetic link (as identical twins share the same genes). They concluded that symptoms known to be associated with Fibro seem to have a strong genetic background.

Altered brain activity during pain processing in Fibromyalgia Syndrome

According to a recent article, more evidence has been found that central mechanisms of pain processing in the brain play an important role in Fibro.

A group of researchers at a German university hospital took fMRI scans of both Fibro patients and healthy controls before, during and after acute pain. fMRI stands for functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging and is a type of MRI scan that looks at how the brain works, specifically which areas of the brain are being used and how much. They found that Fibro patients had different levels of activity in areas of the brain involved in pain processing.

Cognitive Issues correlate with changes in Brain Structure

The cognitive difficulties or "Fibro-fog" that Fibro patients suffer from correlate with changes in brain structure, according to a recent article.

Researchers carried out brain scans of Fibro patients, whilst putting them through assessments designed to test their cognitive function. They found that the Fibro patients had significantly reduced working memory and impaired non-verbal long-term memory and that these, and other problems, correlated with changes in their brain structure.

The study provides more evidence that Fibro is associated with Central Nervous System dysfunction and changes in both the brain's structure and how it works, as well as evidence for the link between changes in the brain and the cognitive difficulties experienced by Fibro patients.