Juvenile Fibromyalgia: Different from the Adult Chronic Pain Syndrome?

  • Susmita Kashikar-Zuck
  • Christopher King
  • Tracy V. Ting
  • Lesley M. Arnold
Chronic Pain (R Staud, Section Editor)
First Online:
Part of the following topical collections:
  1. Topical Collection on Chronic Pain

Abstract

While a majority of research has focused on adult fibromyalgia (FM), recent evidence has provided insights into the presence and impact of FM in children and adolescents. Commonly referred as juvenile fibromyalgia (JFM), youths, particularly adolescent girls, present with persistent widespread pain and cardinal symptoms observed in adult FM. A majority of youth with JFM continue to experience symptoms into adulthood, which highlights the importance of early recognition and intervention. Some differences are observed between adult and juvenile-onset FM syndrome with regard to comorbidities (e.g., joint hypermobility is common in JFM). Psychological comorbidities are common but less severe in JFM. Compared to adult FM, approved pharmacological treatments for JFM are lacking, but non-pharmacologic approaches (e.g., cognitive-behavioral therapy and exercise) show promise. A number of conceptual issues still remain including (1) directly comparing similarities and differences in symptoms and (2) identifying shared and unique mechanisms underlying FM in adults and youths.

Keywords

Juvenile fibromyalgia (JFM) Juvenile primary fibromyalgia syndrome (JPFS) Adolescents Chronic widespread pain (CWP) Fibromyalgia (FM) 
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Notes

Compliance with Ethical Standards

Conflict of Interest

Susmita Kashikar-Zuck reports grants from the National Institutes of Health K24 mid-career grant, during the conduct of the study; Christopher King reports grants from NIH/NIDCR, during the conduct of the study; Tracy V. Ting declares that she has no conflicts of interest. Lesley M. Arnold reports grants and personal fees from Pfizer Inc., Forest, Daiichi Sankyo, and Theravance; personal fees from Purdue, Toray, Shire, Innovative Med Concepts, Ironwood, and Zynerba; and grants from Eli Lilly, Tonix, Cefaly, and Cerephex, outside the submitted work.

Human and Animal Rights and Informed Consent

With regard to the authors’ research cited in this paper, all procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Funding

This work was partially supported by funding from the National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases of the National Institutes of Health Grant K24AR056687 to S. Kashikar-Zuck and funding by the NIH/National Institute of Dental and Craniofacial Research R00 Grant (King, PI) to C. King.

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Copyright information

© Springer Science+Business Media New York 2016

Authors and Affiliations

  • Susmita Kashikar-Zuck
    • 1
  • Christopher King
    • 2
  • Tracy V. Ting
    • 3
  • Lesley M. Arnold
    • 4
  1. 1.Division of Behavioral Medicine and Clinical Psychology, MLC 7039, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of MedicineCincinnatiUSA
  2. 2.Department of Pediatric Anesthesia, MLC 7031, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of MedicineCincinnatiUSA
  3. 3.Division of Pediatric Rheumatology, MLC 4010, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical CenterUniversity of Cincinnati College of MedicineCincinnatiUSA
  4. 4.Psychiatry and Behavioral NeuroscienceUniversity of Cincinnati College of MedicineCincinnatiUSA

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