Cathébras, P, Lauwers, A, Rousset, H · Annales de medecine interne · 1998
Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain condition that affects about 2% of the general population, with symptoms including widespread pain, fatigue, and sleep problems. This review examines how fibromyalgia overlaps with other conditions like ME/CFS and depression, and discusses why current treatments like antidepressants and therapy have limited effectiveness. The authors suggest that fibromyalgia may develop through interconnected factors rather than a single cause.
This paper is important for ME/CFS patients and researchers because it directly addresses the overlap and comorbidity between fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, highlighting diagnostic and etiological challenges shared between these syndromes. Understanding fibromyalgia's apparent multifactorial pathophysiology and treatment limitations may inform similar research directions for ME/CFS. The paper's critique of current diagnostic criteria emphasizes why distinguishing between overlapping functional somatic syndromes remains clinically crucial.
This review does not establish the actual cause or primary mechanism of fibromyalgia, nor does it provide empirical evidence for the proposed 'final common pathway' model. The paper does not prove that fibromyalgia and ME/CFS are the same condition, only that they share diagnostic and comorbidity challenges. As a critical review rather than primary research, it cannot confirm the efficacy or inefficacy of specific treatments through clinical trial data.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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Primary citation
Cathébras, P, Lauwers, A, & Rousset, H (1998). [Fibromyalgia. A critical review].. Annales de medecine interne. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9921393/
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-cathbras-1998-fibromyalgia-critical,
author = {Cathébras, P and Lauwers, A and Rousset, H},
title = {[Fibromyalgia. A critical review].},
journal = {Annales de medecine interne},
year = {1998},
note = {PubMed: 9921393},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cathbras-1998-fibromyalgia-critical},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/cathbras-1998-fibromyalgia-critical
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