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Some fibromyalgia patients displayed comorbidity of inflammatory rheumatic diseases

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SAN DIEGO — About 7% of patients with fibromyalgia also had inflammatory rheumatic diseases and demonstrated lower response to a fibromyalgia treatment program, according to research presented at the American College of Rheumatology annual meeting.

Researchers at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., studied 978 patients with fibromyalgia who completed a brief multidisciplinary fibromyalgia treatment program (FTP) with an emphasis on cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). During a mean follow-up of 11.7 months, 536 patients returned the questionnaires (54.8% response rate). At patients’ initial evaluation and follow-up, the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and Short Form-36 Health Status Questionnaire (SF-36) were completed. Electronic medical records collected information of inflammatory rheumatic disease (IRD) at initial evaluation. Rheumatic and nonrheumatic groups were compared using two-sample t test and multivariate regression analysis.

Physician diagnoses determined that 36 patients (6.7%) had IRDs, including undifferentiated inflammatory arthritis and rheumatoid arthritis. Poorer scores in SF-36 physical function (P=.02), pain index (P=.01) and physical component summary (P=.009) were reported for patients in the rheumatic group compared with nonrheumatic patients.

 

Terry Oh

Both groups tended to improve after the FTP. When compared with patients in the nonrheumatic group, rheumatic patients displayed less improvement in FIQ pain subscales, work absences and SF-36 physical function (P=.02 for all).

“Compared to those without rheumatic diseases, those with rheumatic conditions had worse physical health and pain, but not mental health,” researcher Terry Oh, MD, physical medicine and rehabilitation physician at Mayo Clinic, told Healio.com. “They also had a lower treatment response to our program compared to the nonrheumatic group; we compared their treatment response, and they did not do as well.”

Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.

For more information:

Jiao J. #123: Association of Rheumatic Diseases with Symptom Severity, Quality of Life, and Treatment Outcome in Patients with Fibromyalgia. Presented at: the 2013 American College of Rheumatology Annual Meeting; Oct. 26-30, San Diego.