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Received: 9 August 2019    Accepted: 10 August 2019

DOI: 10.1111/1756-185X.13691

CORRESPONDENCE

What is the significance of diagnostic criteria of fibromyalgia?

Dear Editor, Correspondence

Dr. Kang et al. have compared various diagnostic criteria of fibro- Katsuhiro Toda, Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Hiroshima Clinic,
myalgia (FM).1 What is the significance of diagnostic criteria of FM? 4th floor Fuji Ground, 2‐1, Takara‐machi, Naka‐ku, Hiroshima City,
Many physicians treat patients with the incomplete form of FM2 730‐0044, Japan.
(chronic widespread pain and chronic regional pain) using the same Email: goutattack@yahoo.co.jp
treatment as FM.3 If the treatments of the two diseases are the
same, there is no clinical significance in distinguishing between the
ORCID
two diseases. In this case, diagnostic criteria of FM have no clinical
value but have academic value to select uniform patients in confer- Katsuhiro Toda  https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1946-1870
ence presentation and/or writing papers. If the treatments of the
two diseases are different, there is clinical significance in distin-
guishing between the two diseases. REFERENCES

Have Dr. Kang et al. treated patients with incomplete form of FM
using the same treatment as FM or different treatment? What is the
significance of diagnostic criteria of FM?
C O N FL I C T S O F I N T E R E S T
No author declares conflicts of interest related to the production of
this manuscript.
Katsuhiro Toda
Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Hiroshima Clinic, Hiroshima City,
Japan
1. Kang JH, An M, Choi SE, et al. Performance of the revised 2016 fibro-
myalgia diagnostic criteria in Korean patients with fibromyalgia. Int J
Rheum Dis. 2019. [Epub ahead of print].
2. Toda K. Comparison of symptoms among fibromyalgia syndrome,
chronic widespread pain, and an incomplete form of chronic wide-
spread pain. J Musculoskelet Pain. 2011;19(1):52‐55.
3. Toda K. Treatment of chronic widespread pain is similar to treat-
ment of fibromyalgia throughout the world. J Musculoskelet Pain.
2010;18(3):317‐318.

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