PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Jessica A Eccles AU - Beth Thompson AU - Kristy Themelis AU - Marisa L Amato AU - Robyn Stocks AU - Amy Pound AU - Anna-Marie Jones AU - Zdenka Cipinova AU - Lorraine Shah-Goodwin AU - Jean Timeyin AU - Charlotte R Thompson AU - Thomas Batty AU - Neil A Harrison AU - Hugo D Critchley AU - Kevin A Davies TI - Beyond bones: The relevance of variants of connective tissue (hypermobility) to fibromyalgia, ME/CFS and controversies surrounding diagnostic classification: an observational study AID - 10.7861/clinmed.2020-0743 DP - 2021 Jan 01 TA - Clinical Medicine PG - 53--58 VI - 21 IP - 1 4099 - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/1/53.short 4100 - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/21/1/53.full SO - Clin Med2021 Jan 01; 21 AB - Background Fibromyalgia and myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) are poorly understood conditions with overlapping symptoms, fuelling debate as to whether they are manifestations of the same spectrum or separate entities. Both are associated with hypermobility, but this remains significantly undiagnosed, despite impact on quality of life.Objective We planned to understand the relevance of hypermobility to symptoms in fibromyalgia and ME/CFS.Method Sixty-three patient participants presented with a confirmed diagnosis of fibromyalgia and/or ME/CFS; 24 participants were healthy controls. Patients were assessed for symptomatic hypermobility.Results Evaluations showed exceptional overlap in patients between fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, plus 81% met Brighton criteria for hypermobility syndrome (odds ratio 7.08) and 18% met 2017 hypermobile Ehlers–Danlos syndrome (hEDS) criteria. Hypermobility scores significantly predicted symptom levels.Conclusion Symptomatic hypermobility is particularly relevant to fibromyalgia and ME/CFS, and our findings highlight high rates of mis-/underdiagnosis. These poorly understood conditions have a considerable impact on quality of life and our observations have implications for diagnosis and treatment targets.