Home Page

INTENDED AUDIENCE
Primary care physicians (PCPs). There are no prerequisites.

GOAL
This activity has been designed to provide PCPs with the knowledge, skills, and tools to diagnose fibromyalgia (FM) and confounding conditions; identify and evaluate the symptom domains for a FM patient; and formulate treatment plans tailored to address an individual patient’s symptoms using the available treatment options.

BACKGROUND
FM is a common disorder, affecting an estimated 5 million US adults. FM can occur alone or accompany other chronic diseases. Most people diagnosed are middle aged, but symptoms can occur at any age. The socioeconomic burden of FM  to society, the medical system, and individuals includes more frequent medical visits, greater mean annual healthcare expenditure, a greater number of missed workdays, decreased productivity at work, and premature retirement compared with the general population. A spectrum of different clinical symptoms constitute FM, and any given patient may differ in how they manifest these particular symptoms; for example, in 1 patient, pain may be the predominant issue, but another patient may be able to tolerate the pain, but the fatigue, dyscognition, or sleep disturbance predominate. The prevalence, associations, relative importance to the patient, and scientific underpinnings of these major clinical manifestations of FM are increasingly better understood.

WHY YOU SHOULD PARTICIPATE
A comprehensive assessment of the multiple symptom domains associated with FM and the impact of FM on  multidimensional aspects of function should be a routine part of the care of FM patients. This program will utilize patient insights regarding their conditions to help physicians understand patients’ experience and improve their care. 

 

Jointly presented by the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine and the National Fibromyalgia Association

Supported by an educational grant from Pfizer Inc.