The Prevalence of Fibromyalgia

The diagnosis rate of fibromyalgia ranks second only to osteoarthritis in the category of rheumatoid disease. Ninety percent of all reported cases are in the United States, making it about 3.7 million Americans who have this disease. It occurs primarily in women between the ages of 20 and 50. But fibromyalgia can also happen to men, although it occurs seven times more in women. It can afflict senior citizens and even children.

If you suffered from undiagnosed pain as a child, you probably had the beginnings of fibromyalgia. It is believed that it is a genetic disease and most sufferers have ancestors who also had it. Almost 90 percent of sufferers also report temporal mandibular joint dysfunction. That's what causes a person to clench their teeth, causing jaw pain and is also related to bruxism, which is grinding teeth during sleep.

The most recent studies examined women of different heritage and different educational levels. Those studies found little difference among women of different nationalities, but did find a statistical difference between highly educated and less educated women, with those highly educated experiencing less pain.

Using basic information extrapolated from more refined statistics, the prevalence of fibromyalgia in other countries has been identified to some degree, although more information must be gathered. In North America, the United States has more incidences of fibromyalgia than all other countries on the continent combined. Russia, Germany, and Mexico are the only other countries that report more than one million cases.