Twin Study suggests that Fibromyalgia Syndrome has a strong genetic background

Fibromyalgia Syndrome symptoms seem to have a strong genetic background, according to an article e-published ahead of print in the European Journal of Pain. [1]

A team of researchers from the Pain Clinic at Helsinki University Central Hospital, Finland studied the prevalence and heritability of symptoms associated with Fibromyalgia Syndrome (Fibro) in a population-based working-age twin sample. The study was based on the 12,502 like-sexed twins of the Finnish Twin Cohort and 49 diagnosed fibromyalgia patients who answered the same questionnaire in 1990-1992. [1]

Questions that were considered to best match symptoms of Fibro were validated between the twins and the Fibro patients, with responses to all Fibro-related items being obtained from 10,608 twins. [1]

Latent class analysis was used to classify the subjects into more homgenous groups consisting of subjects that were virtually symptom free, subjects with some symptoms and subjects with a similar symptom profile as the diagnosed Fibro patient group, but less severely affected. [1]

A similar proportion of men (12%) and women (13%) was placed in the third group, which best represented possible Fibromyalgia Syndrome patients. The heritability of liability to symptom class membership was estimated to be 51% (95% CI 45-56%). [1]

The prevalence of symptoms associated with Fibro in the other groups was comparable to the prevalence of widespread pain reported in population based studies. [1]

The researchers concluded that:

"The symptoms known to be associated with fibromyalgia seem to have a strong genetic background." [1]

References:

1. Markkula R, Järvinen P, Leino-Arjas P, Koskenvuo M, Kalso E, Kaprio J. Clustering of symptoms associated with fibromyalgia in a Finnish Twin Cohort. Eur J Pain. 2008 Oct 18. [Epub ahead of print]