Fibromyalgia and childhood abuse: Exploration of stress reactivity as a developmental mediator

The purpose of this paper is to explore whether the human body’s stress reactivity in response to trauma may be a possible developmental mediator between childhood abuse and the development of fibromyalgia (FM). Four points are emphasized in this article. First, studies that have examined the prevalence of childhood physical, emotional, and sexual abuse in FM patients are evaluated. Second, health and neuroendocrine differences between abused and non-abused FM patients are examined. Third, studies that tested the association between childhood abuse and stress reactivity characterized by neurobiological abnormalities are reviewed. Fourth, studies that have investigated the association between stress reactivity and FM are analyzed. The results of the reviews showed significant associations between childhood abuse and FM, childhood abuse and stress reactivity, and stress reactivity and FM, indicating that childhood abuse may be one of the etiological factors that could lead to abnormal brain development, affecting stress reactivity, and ultimately lead to the development of FM.