EUROPEAN NETWORK of FIBROMYALGIA ASSOCIATIONS

From the News Desk of Jeanne Hambleton

PRESS RELEASE -28.01.2009

 

The European Medicines Agency (EMEA) are to  have a consultation with a delegation from the European Network of Fibromyalgia Associations (ENFA) in an attempt to understand the need for medical treatments for fibromyalgia in Europe.

Brussels – Following an invitation by the EMEA, the European Network of Fibromyalgia Associations (ENFA) has agreed to attend a consultation meeting with EMEA, where ENFA representatives will share their knowledge and experiences related to the disease of Fibromyalgia that some 14 million Europeans are suffering from.  One of the biggest challenges that the patients have been facing is the lack of officially recognized medical treatment options in the European Union whereas there are three drugs in the United States of America approved by the Food and Drug Administration: Cymbalta from Eli Lilly, Lyrica from Pfizer and recently authorised Savella from Forest & Cypress.

 

The European Declaration 69/2008 on Fibromyalgia that has been recently adopted by the European Parliament, symbolizing the awareness raised around Fibromyalgia, calls for actions on specific issues from European Institutions to improve healthcare surrounding the disease, e.g. investment in research and provision of better diagnosis and treatment.  In addition, the European Health Commissioner Ms. Vassiliou’s remarks (E-6262/08EN) on the treatment of Fibromyalgia demonstrates encouraging willingness of the European Commission to address various concerns laid out in the Declaration on Fibromyalgia.

“We hope that this new drive on Fibromyalgia awareness will bring the end to the impasse of medical treatment for Fibromyalgia patients in the EU”, said Mr. Robert Boelhouwer, President of ENFA. 

Fibromyalgia is a complex disease with a variety of symptoms in addition to the defining symptom – chronic widespread pain. It is estimated that 14 million people in Europe suffer from fibromyalgia and the condition is more prevalent with women (87%).  Fibromyalgia imposes large economic burdens on society as well as on affected individuals. The debilitating symptoms often result in lost work days, lost income and disability payments. Due to lack of awareness, on average patients in Europe see 3-4 physicians and take multiple medications over the course of several years before they receive a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia.

Mr. Boelhouwer said, “Increasing awareness of Fibromyalgia among healthcare professionals and patients will bring enormous benefits to patients, healthcare providers and the society in general by managing the burden of the disease.” he continues, “Having this in mind, ENFA welcomes the proactive role that both the European Parliament and the European Commission have taken up in raising the awareness of Fibromyalgia.”

 

 

Contact:  European Network of Fibromyalgia Associations (ENFA)

Mr. Robert Boelhouwer President of ENFA

contact@enfa-europe.eu  - www.enfa-europe.eu

 About ENFA

ENFA is a network of patient association and support groups working in close consultation with the national association in the relevant country. Our joint missions are to conquer the myths and misunderstandings around Fibromyalgia. The network will help collectively push forward the boundaries which currently exist in understanding, experiencing and treatment of Fibromyalgia. Our main goal is to see fibromyalgia receiving the recognition it deserves across Europe as an illness in its own right.

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http://www.europarl.europa.eu/QP-WEB/application/home.do?language=EN

 

 

PIERRE FABRE MEDICAMENT AND FOREST LABORATORIES TO COLLABORATE ON DEVELOPMENT AND COMMERCIALIZATION

From the Desk of Jeanne Hambleton – courtesy PR-Canada.Net. 

 (http://pr-canada.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=71522&Itemid=61)

Saturday, 27 December 2008

Forest Laboratories, Inc. and Pierre Fabre Medicament today announced that they have entered into a definitive collaboration agreement to develop and commercialize F2695 in the United States and Canada. F2695 is a proprietary selective norepinephrine and serotonin reuptake inhibitor that is being developed by Pierre Fabre for the treatment of depression and other central nervous system disorders.    Under the terms of the agreement, Forest will make an upfront payment to Pierre Fabre of $75 million and will pay future, undisclosed milestone payments. In addition, Pierre Fabre will receive royalty payments based on F2695 sales. Forest will assume responsibility for the clinical development and commercialization of F2695 in the United States and Canada, while Pierre Fabre will fund all preclinical development and drug substance manufacturing activities worldwide. “We are pleased to expand our relationship with Pierre Fabre to include this collaboration on the development of F2695 for the treatment of depression. Pierre Fabre has been an outstanding partner for Forest since we commenced our alliance in 2004,” commented Howard Solomon, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Forest. “We are highly encouraged by the strong clinical antidepressant activity and good tolerability exhibited by F2695 in the recently completed placebo-controlled, double-blind Phase II study. We look forward to initiating Phase III studies with F2695 next year. F2695 is the second late-stage product candidate we have licensed this quarter, underscoring our commitment to further building our pipeline and bringing novel therapeutics to the market.” “Pierre Fabre is looking forward to working with Forest on this exciting product opportunity,” said Jean-Pierre Garnier, Chief Executive Officer of Pierre Fabre Medicament. “Forest has an excellent record of developing and commercializing products for the treatment of depression and we are happy to extend our existing partnership to include F2695.” In a recently completed European placebo-controlled, double-blind Phase II study of F2695 in over 550 patients with major depressive disorder, the compound demonstrated statistically significant improvement compared to placebo (p<0.0001) on the primary endpoint, change from baseline in total score on the Montgomery-Asberg Depression Rating Scale (“MADRS”). Statistically significant improvement for F2695 compared to placebo was also demonstrated using the change from baseline in the Hamilton Depression Rating Scale (“HAMD-17″) and in response and remission rates using both the MADRS and HAMD-17. In addition, F2695 demonstrated improvement compared to placebo within two weeks after treatment initiation. About F2695 F2695 is an isomer of milnacipran and is protected by a method of use patent that extends through June 2023. F2695 exerts its effects by selectively inhibiting the reuptake of both norepinephrine and serotonin, two neurotransmitters known to play an essential role in regulating mood. Forest, in partnership with Cypress Bioscience, Inc. and Pierre Fabre, is currently developing milnacipran; a selective serotonin and norepinephrine dual reuptake inhibitor, for the management of fibromyalgia. The New Drug Application is under FDA review and we continue to plan for a first quarter 2009 product launch meeting About Pierre Fabre Medicament The Pierre Fabre Group, the second largest independent laboratory in France, employs some 10,000 people, and achieved a turnover of 1.7 billion euros in 2007. The lines of business are ethical medicine, family health but also in dermo-cosmetic products with several brands: Avene, Ducray, A-Derma, Galenic, Klorane and Rene Furterer and dermo-cosmetics. Pierre Fabre Medicament, the pharmaceutical branch of the Pierre Fabre Group, made Research and Development its core business and the key to its future. With 1,400 employees dedicated to R&D, Pierre Fabre Medicament has invested 30% of its annual sales to R&D during 2008, in five major therapeutic areas in terms of public health: oncology (the priority R&D area of Pierre Fabre Medicament, with 50% of all R&D expenses), psychiatry, urology, cardio-vascular, rheumatology. To learn more about Pierre Fabre, visit http://www.pierre-fabre.com. About Forest Laboratories Forest Laboratories is a U.S.-based pharmaceutical company with a long track record of building partnerships and developing and marketing products that make a positive difference in people’s lives. In addition to its well-established franchises in therapeutic areas of the central nervous and cardiovascular systems, Forest’s current pipeline includes product candidates in all stages of development and across a wide range of therapeutic areas. The company is headquartered in New York, NY. To learn more about Forest Laboratories, visit http://www.FRX.com. Except for the historical information contained herein, this release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements involve a number of risks and uncertainties, including the difficulty of predicting FDA approvals, the acceptance and demand for new pharmaceutical products, the impact of competitive products and pricing, the timely development and launch of new products, and the risk factors listed from time to time in Forest Laboratories’ Annual Report on Form 10-K, Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q, and any subsequent SEC filings.

 

Unique pattern of gene expression can indicate acetaminophen overdose

Contact: Robin Mackar
rmackar@niehs.nih.gov
919-541-0073
NIH/National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences

May lead to new tool for physicians

In a new study, researchers found they could detect toxic levels of acetaminophen in laboratory animals by analyzing gene expression in the blood. This study by the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), part of the National Institutes of Health, could be a first step in developing accurate new tools to detect acetaminophen overdose in humans. Overdose of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in many over-the-counter pain relievers, is a leading cause of liver failure in the United States and is often difficult to diagnose. An estimated 50,000 people seek emergency room treatment for acetaminophen overdose each year.

The research published online this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences shows that gene expression data from blood cells can provide valuable information about acetaminophen levels well before liver damage can be detected by other methods, including serum markers and liver biopsies.

“In time, this approach could give physicians a powerful new genomics tool to help patients who cannot estimate how much acetaminophen they consumed. Early detection of acetaminophen overdoes can be helpful in preventing or treating resulting liver damage,” said Richard S. Paules, Ph.D., principal investigator and director, Microarray Core Facility at NIEHS and senior author on the new paper.

The researchers would like to build on this body of research to develop a simple procedure that clinicians could use in the emergency room to estimate the level of acetaminophen exposure and the potential damage to the liver. This would be especially beneficial for patients such as the elderly, suicidal, semi-comatose who are unable to provide an accurate estimate.

To carry out their study, the researchers developed and then analyzed gene expression signatures — patterns of gene activity —in rats exposed to various doses of acetaminophen. Using microarrays, or tools that allow scientists to see how differences in gene expression are linked to specific diseases, the researchers were able to determine which genes were turned on or turned off in response to the different levels of acetaminophen. Once they selected the gene sets, they tested them for accuracy, and found the signature gene lists were able to predict exposure to toxic versus nontoxic doses with very high accuracy (88.9-95.8 percent), while the more traditional predictors, of clinical chemistry, hematology and pathology were approximately 65 to 80 percent accurate.

“Although it was not the main focus of our study, we wanted to see how applicable this gene expression profiling of blood cells was to humans,” said Raymond W. Tennant, Ph.D., in the NIEHS Laboratory of Molecular Toxicology, and a co-author on the study.

The NIEHS researchers compared the animal data with data from RNA from blood drawn from individuals who had been admitted to the University of North Carolina emergency room for acetaminophen overdose intoxication. When they compared the toxic blood samples to the samples from normal healthy volunteers they saw a striking difference.

“Although there are already some good tools available to emergency room physicians to detect liver injury, additional information concerning the level of exposures and/or the degree of liver injury could significantly help us in treating acetaminophen overdose patients,” said Paul Watkins, M.D., Director, General Clinical Research Center at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and co-author on the paper.

###
The National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), a component of the National Institutes of Health, supports research to understand the effects of the environment on human health. For more information on environmental health topics, please visit our website at http://www.niehs.nih.gov/.

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) — The Nation’s Medical Research Agency — includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical, and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit http://www.nih.gov.

Reference: Bushel PR, Heinloth AN, Li J, Huang L, Chou JW, Boorman GA, Malarkey DE, Houle CD, Ward SW, Wilson RE, Fannin RD, Russo MW, Watkins PB, Tennant RW, and Paules RS. Blood gene expression signatures predict exposure levels. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science DOI 10.1073 PNAS.0706987104 (2007).

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Team Up to Fight Arthritis

FOR IMMEDIATE PRESS RELEASE

August 6, 2007 through September 22, 2007

Unifour Arthritis Walk¾ The Arthritis Foundation is seeking walkers of all ages to form individual or group teams for the Arthritis Walk. The Arthritis Foundation’s annual nationwide event that raises awareness and funds to fight arthritis, the nation’s number one cause of disability. Did you know that arthritis is the nation’s leading cause of disability and affects 66 million people? One in three adults and 300,000 children have arthritis or chronic joint pain, costing the U.S. economy more than $86.2 billion annually.

2007 Unifour Arthritis Walk – Morganton, NC
Alvin Daughtridge, Honorary Chair
of Fairfield Chair, Lenoir, NC
Saturday, September 22, 2007
Freedom Park (Independence Blvd. near Freedom High School, Morganton, NC
Registration: 9:00 a.m.
Walk Begins at 10:00 a.m.
Choice of 3-Mile or 1-Mile Walk Route.
Contact Davy Crockett at crockett@kicksradio.com or call 1-800-883-8806, ext. 106 for more information.

You may register online by visiting

http://www.unifourarthritiswalk.kintera.org or http://www.arthritis.org.

“Love bears all things.” ICor.13:7
“God is good! All the time!”

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Opioids for managing chronic non-malignant pain: safe and effective prescribing.

Kahan M, Srivastava A, Wilson L, Mailis-Gagnon A, Midmer D.
Addiction Medical Service, St Joseph’s Health Centre, Toronto, Ontario, Canada. kahanm@stjoe.on.ca

OBJECTIVE: To review the evidence on safe and effective prescribing of opioids for chronic non-malignant pain.

QUALITY OF EVIDENCE: MEDLINE was searched using the terms “opioid effectiveness” and “adverse effects.” There is strong evidence that opioids are effective for both nociceptive and neuropathic pain, but limited evidence that they are effective for pain disorder. There is little information on their effectiveness at high doses or on the adverse effects of high doses.

MAIN MESSAGE: Opioids should be initiated after an adequate trial of acetaminophen or nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs for nociceptive pain and of tricyclic antidepressants or anticonvulsants for neuropathic pain. Patients should be asked to sign treatment agreements and to give informed consent to treatment. Patients should experience a graded analgesic response with each dose increase. Titrate doses of immediate-release opioids slowly upward until pain reduction is achieved, and then switch patients to controlled-release opioids. Most patients with chronic non-malignant pain can be managed with<300 mg/d of morphine (or equivalent).

CONCLUSION: Opioids are safe and effective for managing chronic pain.

PMID: 17279219 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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Prevalence of Interpersonal Abuse in Primary Care Patients Prescribed Opioids for Chronic Pain.

Balousek S, Plane MB, Fleming M.

Department of Family Medicine, University of Wisconsin School of Medicine and Public Health, Madison, WI, USA.

BACKGROUND: Interpersonal abuse is associated with clinical problems including chronic pain disorders. OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study is to describe 30-day and lifetime prevalence of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse found in men and women prescribed opioids for chronic pain.

DESIGN: Cross-sectional interview is the design of this study.

PARTICIPANTS: Patients, 1,009, currently prescribed opioids for chronic noncancer pain. They were recruited from the practices of 235 Family Physicians and Internists in Wisconsin. The most common pain diagnoses were arthritis, low back pain, headache, and fibromyalgia/myofascial pain.

MEASUREMENT: Data for this secondary analysis on rates of interpersonal abuse were based on 3 questions from the Addiction Severity Index (ASI) regarding 30-day and lifetime emotional, physical, and sexual abuse.

RESULTS: Forty-seven percent of women and 22% of men reported a history of lifetime physical abuse. Thirty -five percent of women and 10% of men reported lifetime sexual abuse. Binary logistic regression identified the following variables associated with lifetime physical abuse: female gender (RR 2.81, CI 2.01-3.94), age 31-50 (RR1.77, CI 1.30-2.41), Caucasian (RR1.67, CI 1.19-2.35), increased psychiatric symptoms as measured by the ASI (RR 2.14, CI 1.56-2.94), and lifetime suicide attempts (RR 3.98, CI 2.76-5.74).
CONCLUSIONS: This study reports prevalence of abuse in both men and women prescribed opioids for chronic pain in primary care settings. Subjects who report experiencing interpersonal abuse also report significantly higher rates of suicide attempts and score higher on the ASI psychiatric scale. Screening patients taking opioids for chronic pain for interpersonal abuse may lead to a better understanding of contributors to their physical and mental health.

PMID: 17641933 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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SOUNDING OFF ABOUT FIBROMYALGIA AWARENESS WEEK

By Jeanne Hambleton© UK Fibromite

I know I am always going on about raising awareness and fibromyalgia and this is especially important as far as the UK Government is concerned. Although we have E Petitions allegedly for the eyes of the Prime Minister, asking for support for various aspects of fibromyalgia, I have my doubts as to whether these will actually achieved any funding for research or recognition for FM – oh me of little faith.

Two of the 4 E Petitions about fibromyalgia on the No.10 Downing Street website will end this month (August) and as a supporter I am hoping to receive comments from the No.10 Downing Street web team (almost certainly not the Prime Minister). I feel sure the Prime Minister does not have time to read all the E Petitions – too busy with his politics. I almost have the impression the E Petitions were designed to save the postman delivering hundred and hundreds of letters which someone has to open and read, although rumour has it the idea of E Petitions was thought to be a bad idea.

As a matter of interest my new E Petition is to help replace those that are about to expire and can be found at the following website. It only takes a minute to do and you will feel go you have supported us. PLEASE would you please sign? I need 1000 signatures before it will be considered – 2000 would be nice. Tell your friends and family PLEASE. I am not on commission!

http://petitions.pm.gov.uk/FIBROFUNDING/

But my reason for writing is other ways to raising awareness during Fibromyalgia Awareness Week.

For us here in the UK and possibly the world over, the 8th to 15th September is Fibromyalgia Awareness Week. We do still of course have another annual event on 12th May – World Fibromyalgia Awareness Day. If you did nothing on that day to further the cause, now is your big chance.

Yes you have guessed it. I am going to talk about doing your bit for this FM Week. Raising funds would be a plus but raising awareness is far more important. Not sure about you, but I am pig sick of people looking at me and saying, “Fibro what?” If you listen carefully you can hear them thinking, “Poor girl – I wonder how long she has to live?”

If you are going to dismiss that thought be sure to tell them, we may not die from FM but as sure as eggs are eggs we will live with the pain for the rest of our lives or until someone finds a cure. (That is why you are signing the E Petition!)

What can you do? I have made several suggestions below with varying amounts of effort, so no excuses please.

NOT TOO HARD WITH FAMILY HELP
Find everything you have in your home that refers to fibromyalgia and invite your friends and neighbours to a need-to-know coffee morning, or afternoon tea and cake (if you don’t do mornings!) You can talk about each item connected with FM, or ask how the last 10 years has been for each of your visitors. When it is your turn you can recall what you used to do and how disabled you are now. Remind them it is an invisible disability and although you look so well you feel so awful.
Keep it bright and light with a few funny fibro stories. This event could even provide you with a few fit helpers for the future if you stage a fund raising event for FM to help your local Support Group.

ARMCHAIR EFFORT
If life is a struggle and a coffee morning is all too much, you could start your own letter writing campaign. Here in the UK you could write to your MP or in the States try your Senator? The MP’s address will be in your local telephone book. If you cannot find it ring the local paper. If you are feeling inspired you could write to the Prime Minister himself – Gordon Brown PM, 10, Downing Street, London, SW1A2AA, or email his assistant james.bowler@hm-treasury.gsi.gov.uk. David Cameron can be reached at camerond@parliament.uk. I am guessing here but I would think that Sir Menzies Campbell could be reached using campbellm@parliament.uk

The mail address of most MPs is their surname followed by the initial and the address – for example the Health Minister Alan Johnson MP – his address is johnsona@parliament.uk.

If you are using snail mail send your letter to your MP at House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

For information about websites, biographies and email addresses search for your MP in alphabetical order at http://www.parliament.uk/directories/directories.cfm

If you do not know who your MP is try http://www.theyworkforyou.com/ and type on your postcode. This will produce a message box, so have our message ready to cut and pate into the box.

If you think you have written a good letter to the PM, the Health Minister and your MP about your FM appealing for Government support for research to find a cure, and speed up diagnosis, including details of your life as a person with an invisible disability – the symptoms – pain 24/7, chronic fatigue, sleeplessness, cognitive problems, IBS, RLS and all the other nasties – send a copy to the Editor of your local paper. Ask him to print it with the readers’ letters, adding your own comments about what you hope the PM will agree. It is a good idea to use bullet points for the symptoms (easier to read).

Now you are on roll! Why not send a copy to your local radio station and the regional TV station? You never know they just might wonder – like everyone else – exactly what fibromyalgia means.

GOING OUT TO THE PUBLIC
If you access to lots of fibromyalgia literature you could ask your local superstore manager if you can stand near the entrance one busy afternoon and hand out literature. If you have friends you could have a table and chairs with fibromites who can talk about the syndrome and maybe encourage anyone interested to join the Group.

EDUCATING STUDENT DOCTORS
By now you should be full of confidence and really ready to go anywhere to tell your story. Contact you local PCT – Primary Care Trust (details in your local telephone book) – who are responsible for the hospitals and doctors in your area. Ask if you could talk to a class of student doctors about fibromyalgia from a patient’s perspective? You could answer their questions and help them become more knowledgeable about diagnosing FM for future patients. You would indeed be raising awareness by doing this, as so many GPs believe it is all in our head. The Fibromyalgia Association of the UK, http://www.fibromyalgia-associationuk.org, has prepared literature for the medical profession. I believe the American NFA – http://www.fmaware.org – also had medical literature for doctors.

Yes we now believe it is all in our head – but not as the GP suggests. Does your GP think it is in your imagination and that you are a mad malingerer? If so tell him it is now said that FM is due to a chemical imbalance in the brain.

My final thought would be to festoon your house or garden with balloons with a sign in the window saying “Happy Anniversary Fibromyalgia”. Someone is bound to ask you who is Fibromyalgia. Take a photograph and send it to the local paper with a caption saying you are celebration Fibromyalgia Awareness Week. I feel sure you will find this an uplifting experience and enjoy the fun. At the end of all this raising awareness you will feel you have achieved something by spreading the word – which as we know is FIBROMYALGIA.

Do write and tell me about your achievements – we can then have another go at more publicity for FM.

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The classification of fibromyalgia syndrome.

Müller W, Schneider EM, Stratz T.
Rheumatologische Forschungsabteilung, Weihermatten 1, 79713, Bad Säckingen, Germany.

As has been shown by a number of working groups, primary fibromyalgia syndrome does not represent a single clinical entity. It is possible to distinguish between a subgroup with high pain sensitivity and no associated psychiatric condition, a second and a third subgroup characterized by depression associated with fibromyalgia syndrome, and a fourth group with somatoform pain disorder of the fibromyalgia type. Mild inflammatory processes must be considered as the cause in the first group, while depression is combined with fibromyalgia in the second and the third group. In the fourth group, serious previous or still existing psychological problems or also insufficient coping with illness symptoms must be regarded as the reason for pain chronification. Group 1 benefits from a blocking of the 5-HT3 receptors by means of tropisetron, for example. This does not only affect pain chronification but also the inflammatory process itself. Group 2 and 3 needs antidepressant treatment, whereas the focus should be on psychotherapy in group 4. Groups 1, 2 and 3 will also profit from multimodal physical treatment programs, to a certain extent this applies to group 4 as well. So-called mixed types require a combination of therapeutic measures.

PMID: 17653720 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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Publication trends in chronic fatigue syndrome: Comparisons with fibromyalgia and fatigue: 1995-2004.

Friedberg F, Sohl S, Schmeizer B.
Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Medicine, Stony Brook University, NY, USA.

OBJECTIVE: In order to identify publishing patterns in chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), we compared the annual number of peer review articles for CFS, fibromyalgia (FM), and non-CFS fatigue over a recent decade (1995-2004).

METHOD: Citations were drawn from Ovid/Medline, PsychInfo, and the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome for peer review articles focusing on CFS, FM, and fatigue for each year of the decade ending in 2004. Statistics included chi-square, tests for differences in proportions, and regression-based curve estimation.

RESULTS: The frequency of CFS peer review articles did not significantly change from the first half to the second half of the decade (1995-2004). By comparison, the output of both FM and fatigue articles significantly increased (P<.0001). A quadratic model (inverted U shape; P<.02) best fit the data for CFS annual publication frequency. By comparison, exponential models best fit the data for both FM (P<.0001) and fatigue (P<.0001) citations. The highest percentage of citations (15-16%) for both CFS and FM fell within the domains of diagnosis, physiopathology, and psychology. For fatigue, almost one third (31.4%) of the citations were focused on etiology, while psychology (11.5%) and physiopathology (10.4%) articles were the next most cited. Based on first-author affiliation, CFS articles were most likely to originate in the United States (37.7%), England (31.4%), and the Netherlands (4.9%).

CONCLUSION: The output of CFS peer review articles has not increased over the past decade, while the number of FM and fatigue articles has increased substantially.

PMID: 17662750 [PubMed - in process]

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Characteristics and healthcare costs of patients with fibromyalgia syndrome.

Berger A, Dukes E, Martin S, Edelsberg J, Oster G.
Policy Analysis, Inc. (PAI), Brookline, MA, USA.

Purpose: To examine the characteristics and healthcare costs of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) patients in clinical practice. Materials and methods: Using a US health-insurance database, we identified all patients, aged >/= 18 years, with any healthcare encounters for FMS (ICD-9-CM diagnosis code 729.1) in each year of the 3-year period, 1 July 2002 to 30 June 2005. A comparison group was then constituted, consisting of randomly selected patients without any healthcare encounters for FMS during this 3-year period. Comparison group patients were matched to FMS patients based on age and sex. Characteristics and healthcare costs of FMS patients and comparison group patients were then examined over the 1-year period, 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2005 (the most recent year for which data were available at the time of the study). Results: The study sample consisted of 33,176 FMS patients and an identical number in the comparison group. Mean age was 46 years, and 75% were women. FMS patients were more likely to have various comorbidities, including painful neuropathies (23% vs. 3% for comparison group), anxiety (5% vs. 1%), and depression (12% vs. 3%) (all p < 0.001); they also were more likely to have used pain-related pharmacotherapy (65% vs. 34% for comparison group; p < 0.001). Mean (SD) total healthcare costs over 12 months were about three times higher among FMS patients [$9573 ($20,135) vs. $3291 ($13,643); p < 0.001]; median costs were fivefold higher ($4247 vs. $822; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Patients with FMS have comparatively high levels of comorbidities and high levels of healthcare utilization and cost.

PMID: 17655684 [PubMed - as supplied by publisher]

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