Traumatic events, perceived stress and health in women with fibromyalgia and healthy controls

Abstract

SummaryThis study examined the relationship between trauma, stress and health in 41 women with fi bromyalgia (FM) and 44 women who were healthy controls (HC). The participants were assessed for traumatic events, perceived stress and mental and physical health. Perceived stress was related to worse mental and physical health in both groups. Traumatic events were related to worse mental and physical health in the FM group but were unrelated to health in the HC group. Perceived stress partially mediated the effect of traumatic events on mental and physical health in the FM group. Finally, adult abuse partially mediated the effects of child abuse on adult stress and health. Trauma may have lasting effects on stress and health in women with FM.

Stress exacerbates pain in the everyday lives of women with fibromyalgia syndrome—The role of cortisol and alpha-amylase

“…As far as empirical evidence is concerned, a plethora of cross-sectional studies have used questionnaires measuring chronic stress or daily hassles in patients with FMS. In these studies, the magnitude of self-reported stress was linked to pain severity and/or functional impairment (Alok et al, 2011;Dailey et al, 1990;Murray et al, 2007;Smith et al, 2010). These findings suggest that stress can indeed exacerbate symptoms in patients with FMS.…”

Childhood stressors in the development of fatigue syndromes: a review of the past 20 years of research

“…Smith et al (2010) showed that FM patients had a higher prevalence of childhood emotional abuse (58.5% v. 18%) when compared with controls, and Kosseva et al (2010) found that 16% of FM patients reported experiencing severe childhood emotional abuse. Lastly, Tietjen et al (2010) demonstrated that a large percentage of patients with FM had a history of childhood emotional abuse (54%).…”

“…Among these, six were case-control studies. Three studies reported a higher incidence of childhood sexual (range 7-37% v. 6-22%) and physical abuse (range 8-34% v. 4-12%) in FM patients than in controls (Boisset-Pioro et al 1995;Ruiz-Perez et al 2009;Smith et al 2010). Anderberg et al (2000) also demonstrated that FM patients had a higher prevalence of childhood sexual (7.5% v. 5%) and physical or psychological abuse (27.5% v. 13%) than patients without a history of abuse.…”

Effectiveness of a Multidisciplinary Worksite Stress Reduction Programme for Women

“…It has been well documented that stress‐related health concerns are associated with increased health care costs, disability and absenteeism at the workplace. Having a high level of perceived stress has been found to be associated with poor overall quality of life in a sample of over 13,000 employees (Clark et al, in press) and in a sample of women with fibromyalgia and in healthy controls (Smith et al, ), and reducing stress has been found to improve the quality of life of adults (Nyklicek & Kuijpers, ). It has been estimated that two‐thirds of the general population has experienced stress within the past 2 weeks, with almost 50% rating their stress as ‘moderate’ or ‘high’ (Williams, Kolar, Reger, & Pearson, ).…”