LETTER TO THE EDITOR The frequency of fibromyalgia in sport professionals Fatma _ Inanıcı • Oya O ¨ zdemir • Tolga Aydog ˘ • Ates ¸S ¸ endil • Yes ¸im Go ¨kc ¸e Kutsal • Zafer Hasc ¸elik Received: 25 March 2010 / Accepted: 11 July 2010 Ó Springer-Verlag 2010 Dear Editor, Fibromyalgia is a chronic musculoskeletal disorder char- acterized by widespread pain and tenderness at specific anatomic sites, commonly accompanied by fatigue [1]. The etiopathogenesis of fibromyalgia is probably multifactorial and peripheral, and central factors are thought to interact with the development of this syndrome. The true incidence and prevalence of fibromyalgia is unknown. However, studies from North America and Europe have revealed overall prevalence rates ranging from 1 to 5% in the gen- eral population [2]. It is well known that many individuals with fibromyalgia are typically inactive and deconditioned [3, 4]. Thus, various forms of exercises are increasingly recommended to these patients as an integral part of non- pharmacological treatment. Aerobic and muscle strength- ening exercises are shown to be effective at improving symptoms, tender point counts, pain threshold, physical fitness and quality in fibromyalgia [5]. Professional athletes regularly perform exercise programs designed to improve and maintain their physical fitness. Therefore, it can be expected that the prevalence of fibromyalgia in adults participating in competitive sports is to be lower than that in general population. The aim of this study was to deter- mine the frequency of fibromyalgia in a population of sport professionals. One hundred and eighty-five sport professionals (74 women, 111 men) were enrolled in the study. Each of the participants was asked whether he or she had widespread pain over the last 3 months. If the answer was yes, then the duration and severity of pain were recorded. In the physical examination, 18 tender points identified by the 1990 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria for the diagnosis of fibromyalgia were palpated, and the subjects’ responses were noted. Statistical analyses were performed by using the SPSS version 11.5 for Windows package program. Results were expressed as mean ± standard deviation. Mann–Whitney U test was used for comparison of the duration and severity of pain. Statistical significance was determined at P value \ 0.05. Fifty-nine participants (64.4% of them were men) with a mean age of 23.9 ± 4.9 years had declared that they have widespread pain. The mean duration of pain was 37.8 ± 39.3 (median 24) months. The mean value of pain severity marked on a 10-cm visual analog scale was 42.5 ± 21.2 mm. There were no significant differences between genders in the duration and severity of widespread pain. Six of the individuals with widespread pain had no tender points, whereas the average number in the ones who had at least one tender point was 5.5 ± 3.7 (1–18). Eleven or more of the 18 tender points were detected in 12 sub- jects. However, only 4 of them suffered from widespread pain and diagnosed with fibromyalgia. To the best of our knowledge, only one study has been previously conducted to determine the prevalence of fibromyalgia in young healthy athletes. Andary et al. evaluated 641 college student athletes and found that only F. _ Inanıcı Á O. O ¨ zdemir Á Y. G. Kutsal Á Z. Hasc ¸elik Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Hacettepe University Medical School, Ankara, Turkey O. O ¨ zdemir (&) Oyak 10 Sitesi No:8/35, C ¸ ayyolu, Ankara, Turkey e-mail: oyaunalozdemir@yahoo.com T. Aydog ˘ Department of Sports Medicine, Hacettepe University Medical School, Ankara, Turkey A. S ¸ endil School of Sports Science and Technology, Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey 123 Rheumatol Int DOI 10.1007/s00296-010-1567-2