Acupuncture in adolescents with juvenile fibromyalgia

Objective: To describe the use of acupuncture in the treatment of adolescents with juvenile fibromyalgia. Methods: Retrospective study of patients with juvenile fibromyalgia (American College of Rheumatology criteria) submitted at least to 11 weekly sections of acupuncture. The evaluations before and after acupuncture included: demographic data, musculoskeletal pain findings, pain visual analog scale (VAS), algometry, and myalgic index (MI). These patients could be treated with analgesics, amitriptyline and aerobic physical activity. The results before and after acupuncture were compared by non-parametric Wilcoxon test. Results: 38 patients had juvenile fibromyalgia in eight consecutive years, 13 had all information in their medical and acupuncture records. Seven of the 13 patients improved in three parameters (number of tender points, pain VAS and MI). The median number of tender points and VAS was significantly higher before than after treatment with acupuncture sections [14 (11-18) vs. 10 (0-15), p=0.005; 6 (2-10) vs. 3 (0-10), p=0.045; respectively]. In contrast, the median MI was significantly lower before treatment [3.4 (2.49-4.39) vs. 4.2 (2.71-5.99), p=0.02]. None of the patients with juvenile fibromyalgia had adverse events as sociated with acupuncture. Conclusions: Acupuncture is a traditional chinese medicine modality that can be used in pediatric patients with fibromyalgia. Future controlled studies are necessary.