"Silicone related symptoms" are common in patients with fibromyalgia: no evidence for a new disease.

OBJECTIVE

To ascertain if the symptom content and rate of symptoms in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) are similar to those in what has been called silicone implant associated syndrome (SIAS), and to determine if SIAS is indeed a new disease or whether it is largely recognizable as FM.

METHODS

Mailed survey to 901 patients in Wichita, KS, Portland, OR, Los Angeles, CA, Peoria, IL, Boston, MA, San Antonio, TX, and eastern Kansas who were participating in a longterm outcome study of FM. Laboratory data were available from Wichita patients.

RESULTS

Content of symptoms was similar to that in SIAS, and rates were generally as high or higher in patients with FM than in SIAS. In patients with FM, 37.2% had all of the following 5 items: arthralgias, myalgias, sicca complex, atypical rash, and symptoms of a peripheral neuropathy; and 55.2% had 4 of the 5 items.

CONCLUSION

These data do not suggest that SIAS is an unrecognized new disease, but suggest the opposite, that such symptoms are well known and previously recognized, and are common among those with musculoskeletal complaints and those seen in rheumatology clinics.