Hyperbaric oxygen therapy ameliorates pain in overweight or obese patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia

Abstract

Fibromyalgia is a syndrome characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain, fatigue, poor sleep quality, allodynia and paresthesia. Therapy for this syndrome consists of pharmacological and non-pharmacological approaches focused on controlling pain and fatigue to improve the quality of life of those affected. The present study aimed to determine whether hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT) can be considered a useful adjuvant of pre-existing pharmacological treatment to reduce pain and improve the quality of life of patients with fibromyalgia. Patients diagnosed with fibromyalgia were enrolled in the present study following a clinical evaluation. All participants received 20 sessions of HBOT (five sessions/week, Monday-Friday). The sessions consisted of breathing for 60 min with 100% oxygen at a 2.0 atmospheric absolute pressure. Pain, fatigue, quality of life and the number of drugs used were measured to assess the effectiveness of HBOT. Prior to HBOT, the patients presented with an average visual analog scale score of 8.06±0.475, which was reduced to 3.86±0.748 following treatment. In addition, the functional assessment of chronic illness therapy-fatigue score indicated amelioration of this symptom by HBOT, reducing the mean score from 44.86±2.19 to 21.6±1.09. Furthermore, the quantification of the quality of life using the fibromyalgia impact questionnaire reduced the score from 76.66±4.11 to 47.6±2.67.As regards the number of drugs administered to the patients, this decreased from 3.13±0.764 to 1.53±0.85. Taken together, the results of the present study suggest that HBOT may be used as an effective adjuvant in the treatment of fibromyalgia, reducing both pain and fatigue. In addition, this treatment improves the quality of life of those affected and may be used to avoid polypharmacy.