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Fibromyalgia is a prevalent health and
social problem and a growing economic burden.
The number of clinical trials evaluating
both pharmacological and non-pharmacological
treatments has increased recently. Most of
these trials use the American College of
Rheumatology (ACR) criteria as the basic inclusion
criterion for the classification of fibromyalgia.
The ACR criteria do not cover the whole
spectrum of fibromyalgia complaints and findings,
but they are accepted as the “gold standard”
for clinical research and clinical trials. A
more complete set of assessment and outcome
measurement tools would greatly facilitate
diagnosis and evaluation of treatments in both
research and clinical care settings. Several
expert groups are working on this topic.
The fourth in a series of “Les Entretiens du
Carla” meetings, dedicated to all different
aspects of fibromyalgia, addressed outcome
and assessment measures. The group
employed a Delphi-like process to determine
the need for a hierarchy of assessment tools
to be used for diagnosis, selection of treatment and evaluation of treatment efficacy.
The recommendations presented here are the
result of this Delphi process. Similar to the criteria
dilemma: We need the tools for getting
the results, which then may validate the tools.
We are just at the beginning of this long
and challenging process of selection and validation.
Ultimately, researchers, clinicians and
patients will be able to use well-evaluated
tools to guide diagnosis and treatment.
As in recent years, the results of the “Entretiens”
will be presented during a symposium
at the annual EULAR congress in Barcelona.
Pierre Fabre Médicament deserves many
thanks for enabling and supporting these stimulating
meetings, which always lead to exciting
new research ideas and projects.
From left to right
and top to bottom:
Thomas Weiss
Marcel-Francis Kahn
Henning Bliddal
David A. Williams
Jean-Paul Caubère
Bernard Auvinet
Francis Blotman
Patrick Cherin
Jennifer Glass
Anne Cazorla
Florence Gaudoux
Jorge Alberto Costa e Silva
Yves Mainguy
Eva Kosek
Étienne André
Olivier Vitton
Jon Russell
Dominique Crouzit
Philip Mease
Jacky Brunet
Michael Späth
Juan Enrique Mezzich
Richard Gracely
Dan Buskila
Bente Danneskiold-Samsøe
Harvey Moldofsky |
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