The 5th International Congress on Controversies in Fibromyalgia

Abstract

Background. Fibromyalgia (FM) is characterized by chronic generalized pain. Its etiology is not completely understood at present and there are few effective treatments.Objective. The aim of this study was to investigate a possible relationship between chronic pain and gastrointestinal disorders (GID) with particular attention to the presence of GID in FM patients. Methods. Chronic pain patients (n=122) were enrolled; n=103 suffered FM, n=19 suffered other chronic pain (CP) syndromes. 92% were females, 8% males. Self-administered questionnaires were used: Global Assessment of Improvement Scale (GAI) and Symptom Severity Scale (SSS) to assess GID; Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) to measure pain intensity; Widespread Pain Index (WPI) to quantify the extent of widespread pain throughout the body; Symptom Severity (SS) scale to assess features of centralized pain in subjects with painful conditions. Results. VAS was higher in FM than CP (6.8 vs. 4.6, p0.001). WPI was 13.9 and SS 7.2 in FM subjects. GID was reported by 75 of the FM patients and by 4 of the CP ones. GAI was lower (worse) in FM than in CP subjects (30.35 vs. 41.00). Conclusion. Subjects with FM have a high prevalence of gastrointestinal complaints that should be carefully assessed due to the possible effect of GI conditions on health. Appropriate treatment of GID would improve the patients` symptoms, although this approach requires further study.