This investigation will determine the relationship of temporomandibular disorders (TMDs) with fibromyalgia (FM) and factors associated with the two conditions in an established, populations-based cohort (51% black, 49% white) women; and assess racial differences regarding prevalence and the factors explaining this difference. This cohort has been participating for 10 years in the longitudinal National Heart Lung and Blood Institute Growth and Health Study (NGHS) conducted by the University of California, Berkeley and the University of Cincinnati The specific aims are: 1) to assess the prevalence of self-reported, common chronic pains (including TMD and FM) based on questionnaires and to identify potential TMD, FM, and regional chronic pain (RCP) cases and controls; 2) to clinically determine combined body pain and TMD status based on palpating tender points and the distribution of TMD diagnostic types; 3) to compare potential explanatory risk factors (predictors) for these groups and determine the temporal relationship between NGHS-collected factors and diagnostic group status; 4) to analyze factors responsible for racial differences. The cohort consists of 1573 women currently 18-19 years old, recruited from west Contra Costa County, CA and the greater Cincinnati area. Longitudinal data collected over 10 years in the NGHS study regarding physical development, (e.g. growth, sexual development, and reproductive health history) and psychosocial development (e.g. coping strategies inventory and family environmental scale) will be assessed as potential risk factors for combined body pain and TMD group status. These longitudinal data collected during the development of this cohort offer a unique opportunity to study multiple risk factors thought to be associated with different types of chronic pain such as FM and TMDs, as they enter the most vulnerable period of life for developing such conditions. Our proposed study will be able to examine the interconnectedness of the longitudinal psychosocial and physiological measures with cross-sectional FM and TMD status, enabling a case-control design to draw conclusions like a longitudinal study.
| Plesh, Octavia; Gansky, Stuart A; Curtis, Donald A (2012) Chronic Pain in a Biracial Cohort of Young Women. Open Pain J 5:24-31 |
| Gansky, Stuart A; Plesh, Octavia (2007) Widespread pain and fibromyalgia in a biracial cohort of young women. J Rheumatol 34:810-7 |
