Does psychological vulnerability determine health-care utilization in fibromyalgia?

Patients with fibromyalgia (FM) undergo multiple testing and referral to specialists, and often use complementary/alternative medicine (CAM) services. The objectives of the study were: (i) to document health service utilization, and (ii) to examine whether psychological vulnerability was associated with visits to physicians and CAM providers.

Women (N = 178) with a diagnosis of primary FM completed a psychosocial test measuring pain, perceived stress, global psychological distress, sexual abuse history, co-morbidity and disability due to FM. Subjects also completed a health services questionnaire, documenting visits to physicians and CAM providers during the previous 6 months. Psychological vulnerability was operationalized as obtaining high scores on psychological distress, perceived stress and reporting at least one abusive event.

The average number of visits was 7.2 to physicians and 11.3 to CAM providers.

The number of physician visits was significantly associated with more co-morbidity. Psychologically vulnerable subjects were more likely to use CAM services than those not so classified.