La comprensión de la fisiopatología de las enfermedades ha sido desde siempre una herramienta importante del diagnóstico y tratamiento médico moderno. En esta óptica no es de sorprender que una de las primeras enfermedades cuya fisiopatología fue estudiada, allá por los años 50 del siglo pasado fue la fiebre reumática.

Objective: To determine the frequency of alexithymia and associated factors in patients with fibromyalgia, and the relationship between alexithymia with functional capacity, pain intensity, depression and general variables (age, sex, time of illness, degree of instruction, and years of study) in fibromyalgia. Material and methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study of patients with fibromyalgia from the Rheumatology service of a  public hospital in Lima, Perú. A sociodemographic record, TAS-20, MD-HAQ and CES-D were applied. Results. Of the 126 patients with fibromyalgia, 60 had alexithymia (47.62%); 24 alexithymic patients had depression (40 %), and 39 had functional disability (65 %). In the bivariate analysis, alexithymia was significantly related to greater comorbidity, less education, greater pain intensity, greater fatigue and more reported symptoms. In the multivariate analys...