Tender point scores and their relations to signs of mobility, symptoms, and disability in female home care personnel and the prevalence of fibromyalgia syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: In this study of female home care personnel employed in a municipality (n = 643; participation rate 94%) we investigated (1) the prevalence of tender points and fibromyalgia (FM); (2) the relationships between tender point score and other signs and symptoms; (3) if subgroups based on the tender point score differed with respect to signs, symptoms, disability, and health related quality of life; and (4) signs that showed the strongest intercorrelations with disability and health.
METHODS: The following variables were registered: (1) Signs: joint mobility, spinal posture and mobility, tender points, and segmental mobility and pain provocation at L4-S1 levels of the low back. (2) SYMPTOMS: pain and pain intensity and other symptoms. (3) Disability (i.e., self-rated reduced capacity for everyday activities and employment) and health: 3 indices and sick leave.
RESULTS: The tender point score correlated with the number of pain regions and the pain intensities, and the amount of other symptoms, sick leave, and disability. Tender point score was the strongest regressor of the investigated signs in regression of the 2 disability indices. Segmental pain showed the strongest correlation with tender point score. Three subgroups identified by tender point score showed significant differences in segmental pain, prevalence and intensity of different symptoms, disability, and health related quality of life. The prevalence of FM was 2.0%.
CONCLUSION: Tender point score together with different symptoms showed relatively strong correlations with disability. A relatively high prevalence of FM was found in occupationally active female home care personnel.