Gender
Although not a risk factor per se, gender does seem to have a gender bias. More specifically, women are much more likely to be diagnosed with fibromyalgia than are men. A whopping 90% of people who are diagnosed with this disease are women, when looking at data from the United States government. In addition, when men do have fibromyalgia, they tend to have a different experience than when women do. For instance, they tend to experience pain and discomfort over a smaller timespan than most women with fibromyalgia do. Additionally, their symptoms do not tend to be as severe. It is unclear why this seems to be the case; however, experts do have their theories. According to one theory, fibromyalgia tends to develop in women when they are in what is considered to be their “reproductive years” and, so, it is possible that their hormones might have an influence. The pain associated with fibromyalgia also seems to be worse around the time that a woman is menstruating.
