Abstract
Standard assessments for fibromyalgia (FM) diagnosis and core FM symptom domains are needed for biomarker development and treatment trials. Diagnostic and symptom assessments are reviewed and recommendations are made for standards. Recommendations for existing assessments include the American College of Rheumatology FM classification criteria using the manual tender point Survey for diagnosis, the brief pain inventory average pain visual analogue scale for pain intensity, the function subscale of the revised fibromyalgia impact questionnaire (FIQR) for physical function, the patient global impression of change and FIQR for overall/global improvement, the hospital anxiety and depression scale depression subscale for depression, the multiple ability self-report questionnaire for cognitive dysfunction, the fatigue severity scale for fatigue, the FIQR for multidimensional function/health-related quality of life, the jenkins sleep scale for sleep disturbance, and the fibromyalgia intensity score for tenderness. Forthcoming assessments including the FIQR for diagnosis, NIH PROMIS, and FIBRO Change scales are discussed.
Highlights
IntroductionTreatment advances are needed to improve the care of FM patients
Fibromyalgia (FM) is one of the most challenging disorders to manage
While none of the assessments discussed are perfect, consensus within the FM research community must be reached if timely advances for improving patient care are to be made
Summary
Treatment advances are needed to improve the care of FM patients. FM is currently a very subjective disorder, and the development of biomarkers could improve care by simplifying FM diagnosis and objectively quantifying symptom severity. Consensus on standard assessments in research to quantify the severity of FM symptoms is lacking, and recommendations for standard assessments have not been made previously. This paper represents one author’s review of the available literature and his recommendations for current and future assessments to clinically diagnose FM and measure the severity of FM symptoms in research to enable development of new therapies and biomarkers. While none of the assessments discussed are perfect, consensus within the FM research community must be reached if timely advances for improving patient care are to be made
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