Do psychosocial factors predict disease severity in fibromyalgia syndrome?

The aim of this study was to examine anxiety, depression, pain centralization, and pain catastrophization in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and evaluate whether these factors are predictors of disease severity in FMS.

Depression was assessed with the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI), anxiety with the Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI), pain centralization with the Centrality of Pain Scale (COPS), pain catastrophization with the Pain Catastrophizing Scale (PCS), and FMS severity with the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ). Two separate hierarchical linear regression analyses were performed to determine whether there was a significant association between disease severity and the assessed psychosocial factors.

The study was completed with a total of 48 FMS patients (mean age 49.54±8.28 years). FIQ score was moderately correlated with COPS score (r_Spearman=0.670, p<0.001) and PCS score (r_Spearman=0.663, p<0.001). In the logistic regression model, COPS and PCS scores were significant predictors of FIQ score. The predictive variables explained 43.7% of the variation in FIQ score.

This study showed that pain centralization and catastrophization can be considered indicators of disease severity in FMS. The results suggest that routine assessment of pain centralization and pain catastrophizing behaviors in individuals with FMS is needed and that cognitive behavioral therapy approaches may be beneficial in reducing disease severity.