This article is part of a series on Biology and therapy of fibromyalgia, edited by Leslie Crofford.

Review

Biology and therapy of fibromyalgia. Evidence-based biomarkers for fibromyalgia syndrome

Dina Dadabhoy¹ , Leslie J Crofford² , Michael Spaeth³ , I Jon Russell⁴ and Daniel J Clauw⁵

¹Northwest Rheumatology Specialists, Elk Grove Village, IL 60007, USA

²Department of Internal Medicine, University of Kentucky, Lexington, KY 40536, USA

³Center for Clinical Rheumatology Research, 82166 Graefelfing/Munich, Germany

⁴Department of Medicine, The University of Texas Health Science Center at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX 78229, USA

⁵Department of Internal Medicine, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, MI 48105, USA

author email corresponding author email

Arthritis Research & Therapy 2008, 10:211doi:10.1186/ar2443

Published:	8 August 2008

Abstract

Researchers studying fibromyalgia strive to identify objective, measurable biomarkers that may identify susceptible individuals, may facilitate diagnosis, or that parallel activity of the disease. Candidate objective measures range from sophisticated functional neuroimaging to office-ready measures of the pressure pain threshold. A systematic literature review was completed to assess highly investigated, objective measures used in fibromyalgia studies. To date, only experimental pain testing has been shown to coincide with improvements in clinical status in a longitudinal study. Concerted efforts to systematically evaluate additional objective measures in research trials will be vital for ongoing progress in outcome research and translation into clinical practice.