American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 1990 criteria, initially introduced to classify fibromyalgia (FM) syndrome, has gained
popularity in research and clinical grounds for diagnostic purposes. The objectives of this study were designed to assess
the consistency of ACR criteria against the time in classifying FM. This was a prospective cohort study performed in a multidisciplinary
pain clinic from October 2002 to June 2005. Patients who were clinically suspected of having FM and had a normal screening
laboratory evaluation were scheduled for dolorimetry. Those found to have 6 or more tender points were considered eligible
and labeled as either classic or atypical FM if they did or did not, respectively, fulfil ACR criteria. The 2 groups were
assessed using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and compared using baseline characteristics. We reassessed dolorimetric
exam and FIQ 6 months later. Of 91 patients who participated in this study, 70 completed the follow-up. Of them, 34 (49%)
patients were identified as atypical, and 36 (51%) were labeled as classic FM. At first visit, the classic FM group had higher
scores on sleep quality, stiffness, anxiety, depression, and total FIQ score (
p < 0.05) but not for other variables. At 6 months, there was no significant difference between the 2 groups in all measured
variables. Labeling shift from classic to atypical FM and vice versa occurred at a rate of 36.1 and 32.4%, respectively. This
study showed the ACR 1990 criteria was not able to consistently classify affected patients with FM syndrome within a group
of patients having nonspecific body pain and multiple tender points over 6 months of follow-up.
Keywords Cohort studies - Fibromyalgia - Pain syndromes