Four out of five adolescents with juvenile fibromyalgia will suffer from chronic pain and other symptoms after age 20.

This is evidenced by the results of a new study published in Pediatrics..

Half of these children will have adult fibromyalgia with all its manifestations..

“Half of the adolescents we followed met all criteria for adult fibromyalgia later on, and another 35% continued to experience fatigue, pain, and sleep disturbances, but still did not meet ACR criteria,” said Susmita Kashikar-Zuck..

The study, which appears in a new issue of Pediatrics, is another piece of the puzzle in the study of fibromyalgia, a mysterious disease characterized by muscle pain and fatigue.. People with fibromyalgia complain of pain, fatigue, sleep disturbances, and increased pain sensitivity in certain areas of the body..

“Fibromyalgia pain is thought to be caused by abnormal pain sensitivity of the nervous system.. You can think of it as a broken power regulator that amplifies pain signals many times over,” says Dr..

Doctors aren't sure what exactly causes fibromyalgia, but genetics are thought to play a role.. Kashikar-Zuk noted: “Many children with fibromyalgia have parents who suffer from this syndrome.”.

According to the US National Institutes of Health, 80 to 90 percent of people with fibromyalgia are women..

Juvenile fibromyalgia can change a teenager's life in the most dramatic way, forcing them to forego many social activities and skip school..

The researchers were surprised that in most cases these problems continue into adulthood.. They followed a group of 94 teenagers with fibromyalgia for 6 years.. Adolescents were diagnosed between 2002 and 2010, with an average age of 15 at diagnosis.

The authors of the study found that 51% of patients - today young adults aged 21 - continue to experience symptoms, meeting the American College of Rheumatology's criteria for fibromyalgia.. More than 1/3 of them experienced only some symptoms such as pain, fatigue, sleep problems, not fully meeting ACR criteria.

When these young people were compared with healthy peers, they reported worse social adjustment, higher anxiety, frequent visits to the hospital.

Dr. Anne Eberhard, pediatric rheumatologist at Cohen Children's Medical Center in Hyde Park, says: "

A study showed that patients with juvenile fibromyalgia were less likely to start a family and graduate less from college compared to healthy youth of the same age and social status. Only about 62% of them went to college compared to 76% in the control group.

While these findings may be frustrating for patients with fibromyalgia, Dr. Eberhard says one person can look at a glass of water and say it's half empty, while another says it's half full..

“Nearly 49% of those diagnosed as children improved by age 21 and no longer met the criteria for fibromyalgia.. Many study participants were able to attend college and, of course, many started families and had children.. This is very reassuring because these patients, for all their difficulties, were able to lead normal, productive lives,” she says..

Even more encouraging are the new therapeutic options for fibromyalgia that have been developed in recent years.. This was recalled by Dr. Lucinda Bateman, founder of the Fatigue Consultation Clinic in Salt Lake City (Utah).

The Food and Drug Administration has approved antidepressants and anticonvulsants to treat adult fibromyalgia, as well as cognitive behavioral therapy to help patients cope with pain.. Physical therapy has also been shown to be highly effective..

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