The Influence of Pro-inflammatory Cytokines and Genetic Variants in the Development of Fibromyalgia: A Traditional Review, 2020, Peck et al

[Andy]

Fibromyalgia is a complex syndrome characterized by widespread chronic pain, without any obvious etiology, and it is often accompanied by a constellation of symptoms such as fatigue, sleep disturbances and cognitive dysfunction, to name a few. The syndrome may be associated with a variety of autoimmune and psychiatric conditions. Fibromyalgia can occur with other musculoskeletal pathologies and its symptoms can overlap with other chronic painful conditions such as chronic myofascial pain syndromes seen in cervical and lumbar spinal osteoarthritis and degenerative disc disease.

Gene polymorphisms have been related to a decreased pain threshold and an increased susceptibility to disorders associated with chronic pain. Some of those genetic variants might trigger the onset of fibromyalgia.

Researchers are looking into the possible factors that might contribute to its pathophysiology. It is important to study the connections between pro-inflammatory cytokines and genetic variants in pain-related genes and their roles in predisposition and development of fibromyalgia.

The objective of this review article is to provide a brief overview of the pro-inflammatory cytokines commonly associated with fibromyalgia, as well as to look into the genes that have shown some level of involvement in the development of fibromyalgia and its symptomatology.

Open access, https://www.cureus.com/articles/394...elopment-of-fibromyalgia-a-traditional-review

 

[shak8]

Quote from Study Limitations:

Our article depends on reviewing free full-text research articles from the last 10 years, therefore there is a chance we have left out important information from paid full-text as well as from research articles published before 2010. We did not implement quality assessment of the chosen research studies. A systematic review was not performed.

Whoa. Authors didn't have institutional library access to pay-walled articles?

 

[Snow Leopard]

"traditional review"? I guess they mean narrative-review...

 

[FMMM1]

Quote from Study Limitations:

Our article depends on reviewing free full-text research articles from the last 10 years, therefore there is a chance we have left out important information from paid full-text as well as from research articles published before 2010. We did not implement quality assessment of the chosen research studies. A systematic review was not performed.

Whoa. Authors didn't have institutional library access to pay-walled articles?

Yea the whole thing (paying for access to peer reviewed journals) is a mess - Much published research is publicly funded e.g. through direct Government funding; gradually there seems to be a move to require this to be made available to the public (free access via the internet). Not all research research publications are available free; that even applies to research which was wholly/partly funded by the public!

Don't know the specifics here but it's a problem more generally.

Then there's the issue that some peer reviewed research isn't good quality --- so there's a question mark over whether the peer reviewed system really provides quality assurance. After PACE I'm not surprised about the concerns over quality assurance. There's been talk of just moving to a system of University X publishes it's own research --- then it gets vetted via open forums. Problem is it's all linked back to assessing the quality of research institutes --- so difficult to replace.