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Clinical Relevance of Contact Allergy to Gold Sodium Thiosulphate in Fibromyalgia

Hopkins, Katharine LU orcid ; Antelmi, Annarita LU ; Dahlin, Jakob LU ; Olsson, Karin ; Svedman, Cecilia LU ; Åstrand, Jacqueline ; Olsson, Peter LU and Bruze, Magnus LU (2025) In Acta Dermato-Venereologica 105.
Abstract

Fibromyalgia is a chronic syndrome characterized by pain, fatigue, and cognitive disturbances. The increased prevalence of contact allergy to gold in individuals with fibromyalgia when compared with the general population has previously been described. Gold contact allergy can manifest as a systemic contact dermatitis, with cutaneous and extracutaneous manifestations presenting upon systemic administration of gold. This study aimed to establish whether gold allergy is of significance in the fibromyalgia population. Prior to patch testing with the Swedish baseline series and an extended dental series, 119 females with fibromyalgia answered questionnaires including details of past medical history, dental history, and previous cutaneous... (More)

Fibromyalgia is a chronic syndrome characterized by pain, fatigue, and cognitive disturbances. The increased prevalence of contact allergy to gold in individuals with fibromyalgia when compared with the general population has previously been described. Gold contact allergy can manifest as a systemic contact dermatitis, with cutaneous and extracutaneous manifestations presenting upon systemic administration of gold. This study aimed to establish whether gold allergy is of significance in the fibromyalgia population. Prior to patch testing with the Swedish baseline series and an extended dental series, 119 females with fibromyalgia answered questionnaires including details of past medical history, dental history, and previous cutaneous and mucous membrane intolerance to metals. Prevalence of allergy to gold sodium thiosulphate (2.0% and 5.0%) was 33.6% (40 individuals). There was a statistically significant overrepresentation of gold allergy among individuals who experienced cutaneous symptoms upon direct contact with gold (p = 0.010). Contact allergy to gold was more frequent among patients with oral symptoms (p = 0.024). This study demonstrates concordance between reported cutaneous symptomatology related to gold exposure and gold allergy in the fibromyalgia population. Whether individuals with oral symptoms and gold allergy have objective oral clinical findings and relevant gold exposure is the focus of ongoing study.

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author
; ; ; ; ; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Humans, Fibromyalgia/chemically induced, Female, Middle Aged, Dermatitis, Allergic Contact/diagnosis, Adult, Gold Sodium Thiosulfate/adverse effects, Prevalence, Patch Tests, Surveys and Questionnaires, Sweden/epidemiology, Risk Factors, Aged, Clinical Relevance
in
Acta Dermato-Venereologica
volume
105
article number
adv42463
publisher
Medical Journals Limited
external identifiers
  • scopus:105002361897
  • pmid:40150947
ISSN
1651-2057
DOI
10.2340/actadv.v105.42463
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
0f038fd0-bf68-4c72-b981-6c4072c19e01
date added to LUP
2025-04-28 11:13:15
date last changed
2025-06-24 08:29:21
@article{0f038fd0-bf68-4c72-b981-6c4072c19e01,
  abstract     = {{<p>Fibromyalgia is a chronic syndrome characterized by pain, fatigue, and cognitive disturbances. The increased prevalence of contact allergy to gold in individuals with fibromyalgia when compared with the general population has previously been described. Gold contact allergy can manifest as a systemic contact dermatitis, with cutaneous and extracutaneous manifestations presenting upon systemic administration of gold. This study aimed to establish whether gold allergy is of significance in the fibromyalgia population. Prior to patch testing with the Swedish baseline series and an extended dental series, 119 females with fibromyalgia answered questionnaires including details of past medical history, dental history, and previous cutaneous and mucous membrane intolerance to metals. Prevalence of allergy to gold sodium thiosulphate (2.0% and 5.0%) was 33.6% (40 individuals). There was a statistically significant overrepresentation of gold allergy among individuals who experienced cutaneous symptoms upon direct contact with gold (p = 0.010). Contact allergy to gold was more frequent among patients with oral symptoms (p = 0.024). This study demonstrates concordance between reported cutaneous symptomatology related to gold exposure and gold allergy in the fibromyalgia population. Whether individuals with oral symptoms and gold allergy have objective oral clinical findings and relevant gold exposure is the focus of ongoing study.</p>}},
  author       = {{Hopkins, Katharine and Antelmi, Annarita and Dahlin, Jakob and Olsson, Karin and Svedman, Cecilia and Åstrand, Jacqueline and Olsson, Peter and Bruze, Magnus}},
  issn         = {{1651-2057}},
  keywords     = {{Humans; Fibromyalgia/chemically induced; Female; Middle Aged; Dermatitis, Allergic Contact/diagnosis; Adult; Gold Sodium Thiosulfate/adverse effects; Prevalence; Patch Tests; Surveys and Questionnaires; Sweden/epidemiology; Risk Factors; Aged; Clinical Relevance}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  month        = {{03}},
  publisher    = {{Medical Journals Limited}},
  series       = {{Acta Dermato-Venereologica}},
  title        = {{Clinical Relevance of Contact Allergy to Gold Sodium Thiosulphate in Fibromyalgia}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.2340/actadv.v105.42463}},
  doi          = {{10.2340/actadv.v105.42463}},
  volume       = {{105}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}