The study, by researchers at the Mayo Clinic, in Minnesota, found that while fibromyalgia is notoriously difficult to diagnose, doctors are less inclined to pinpoint fibromyalgia in male patients who present with the typical symptoms of the condition.
Their study, published in the journal Arthritis Care & Research, had examined the medical records of more than 3,500 patients from one county in Minnesota who had the symptoms of fibromyalgia, of whom a third had officially been diagnosed.
The next stage of the research involved a random survey of 830 adults from the same county, which revealed that 44 adults (5.3%) had the symptoms of fibromyalgia but of those only 12 had officially been given a diagnosis of the condition.
The study concluded that the official diagnosis figures for fibromyalgia in the county were misleading. It also observed that under-diagnosis was far more prevalent among men than women with 20 times more men appearing to have fibromyalgia than had been detected and diagnosed. In women, only three times as many females who appeared to have the condition had not been diagnosed.
The findings suggest that fibromyalgia may affect many more men than previously thought and the research team has suggested that doctors have to be more aware of how fibromyalgia can affect men when their male patients present with musculoskeletal pain and fatigue.
The main symptoms of fibromyalgia are pain and tenderness all over the body, fatigue, sleep problems, memory loss and mood swings. Sufferers will experience widespread pain in their muscles, ligaments and tendons. This painful condition also gives sufferers a heightened sensitivity to touch.