Rheumatology international
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Objective of this study is to asses the relationship between tender point count (TPC) and the severity of disease in patients with primary fibromyalgia (FM). One hundred and seven female patients with FM diagnosis according to ACR criteria were included to the study. Main outcome measures were fibromyalgia impact questionnaire (FIQ), Beck depression inventory (BDI), visual analog scale (VAS) and tender point assessment. ⋯ TPC was correlated positively with FIQ and VAS scores. There was no correlation between TPC and age and duration of symptoms. In conclusion, TPC is a simple and noninvasive examination finding that can supply information about the disease severity and the depression in FM.
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We performed a cross-sectional study of the demography, clinical and laboratory features of patients with polymyositis and dermatomyositis followed up in our centre from 2006 to 2009. There were 12 cases, with the majority of them (58.3%) being woman. They have a mean age of 57.8 years and mean disease duration of 11.83 (SD 9.92) months. ⋯ The mortality rate in our group was 4(33.3%) over the 4-year period. This study demonstrated the rarity of PM/DM in our centre with considerable lag time to diagnosis in our patients. Despite lack of muscle biopsy in our centre, our centre achieved appropriate diagnosis and management of PM/DM.