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Composed of heterogeneous symptoms, fibromyalgia is a complex disease, which is still difficult to understand. According to the results of a new study, this disease could find its origin in the nerve fibers of our body.
Fibromyalgia is a disease that affects between 2 and 4% of the population and more women than men. It is characterized by chronic diffuse pain without apparent causes, chronic fatigue, sleep disturbances and numerous somatic complaints. Frustrated, this array of atypical symptoms makes fibromyalgia difficult to diagnose.
Nerve fibers affected by the disease
To improve things, scientists regularly look into the subject to try to determine a reliable diagnostic element. This is how the link between fibromyalgia and damage to the nerve fibers of the somatic and autonomic nervous systems has been demonstrated. Schematically, in humans, we distinguish:
- The somatic nervous system regulates the sensations of pain, itching and in particular what relates to pathologies and injuries;
- The autonomic nervous system is an internal regulator for the proper functioning, the regulation of our organs.
In this meta-analysis, published on May 3, 2022 in the journal Diagnoses, researchers from Sapienza University in Rome, Italy evaluated data from 903 patients with fibromyalgia, across about 20 existing studies. This work enabled them to establish the frequency at which the nerve fibers were affected in this pathology.
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Result: somatic nerve fibers were affected in 49% of fibromyalgia patients and autonomic fibers were also affected in 45% of cases. Considerable proportions.
If this work seems to confirm the involvement of the fibers of these two nervous systems in the disease, for the authors, “heterogeneity and inconsistencies between studies call into question the exact role of small fiber deficiency in fibromyalgia symptoms”.