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Two-page Multidimensional Health Assessment Questionnaire may be useful in diagnosis of fibromyalgia
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The two-page Multidimensional Health Assessment Questionnaire may provide useful data for the diagnosis of fibromyalgia, according to research presented by Elena Nikiphorou, MD, MRCP, at the European League Against Rheumatism Annual European Congress of Rheumatology.
Researchers compared the results of the Multidimensional Health Assessment Questionnaire (MDHAQ) administered to 32 patients with fibromyalgia (FM), 50 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 66 patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) and 57 patients with osteoarthritis (OA). All patients were seen in one academic clinical practice for routine care and completed the two-page MDHAQ in the 5 minutes to 10 minutes prior to meeting with a rheumatologist.
Elena Nikiphorou
The MDHAQ includes questions about demographics; physical function while performing 10 daily activities; VAS for pain, fatigue and patient global estimates; and a 60-item checklist of symptoms. A RheuMetric checklist was applied to evaluate the responses.
The results after analysis showed patients with FM had significantly higher mean scores on the MDHAQ scales than patients with other diagnoses. A one-page physician checklist with four VAS assessments of global patient status was highest in patients with FM, whereas the physician assessment of irreversible damage was lower.
Patients with RA had the highest levels of reversible inflammation, irreversible signs of damage were highest in patients with OA, and patients with FM were most likely to have neither inflammation nor damage, according to the researchers.
The researchers concluded the two-page MDHAQ combined with RheuMetric were sufficient to identify FM in a clinical setting. – by Shirley Pulawski
Reference:
Nikiphorou E, et al. Paper #AB0945. Presented at: European League Against Rheumatism Annual European Congress of Rheumatology; June 10-13, 2015; Rome.
Disclosure: The researchers report no relevant financial disclosures.