Session Information
Title: Fibromyalgia, Soft Tissue Disorders, Regional and Specific Clinical Pain Syndromes: Clinical Focus
Session Type: Abstract Submissions (ACR)
Background/Purpose: Many fibromyalgia symdrome (FMS) patients report impaired mental function (fibrofog.) We compared FMS and RA patients with respect to symptoms of impaired cognition.
Methods: 211 office patients with either FMS (150; 130 women and 20 men; mean age 51±12) and RA (61; 45 women and 16 men; mean age 55±15) completed a questionnaire about symptoms of impaired mental function, rated as 1 = never, 2 = occasionally, 3 = sometimes, 4 = mostly, and 5 = always. The two-sided Mann-Whitney test was done to compare FMS and RA patients with respect to these ratings, using a 0.05 significance level.
Results: Compared to RA patients, FMS patients had significantly worse ratings for inability to recall known words (1.9 ± 1.0 vs. 1.4 ± 0.6, p = 0.001), inability to write an idea down (1.5 ± 1.0 vs. 1.2 ± 0.4, p = 0.017), mistaking numbers that look similar (1.5 ± 0.8 vs. 1.2 ± 0.4, p = 0.034), inability to retain patterns when adding, subtracting, multiplying, or dividing (1.6 ± 1.0 vs. 1.2 ± 0.6, p = 0.02), distraction by background noises (2.3 ± 1.3 vs. 1.7 ± 1.0, p = 0.002), difficulty following directions (1.9 ± 1.1 vs. 1.4 ± 0.6, p = 0.005), trouble following conversations (1.7 ± 0.9 vs. 1.3 ± 0.6, p = 0.006), becoming disruptive in conversations (1.4 ± 0.8 vs. 1.2 ± 0.5, p = 0.027), misremembering spelling of familiar words (1.7 ± 0.9 vs. 1.4 ± 0.7, p = 0.009), losing place while reading (2.0 ± 1.1 vs. 1.6 ± 0.8, p = 0.03), difficulty expressing thoughts verbally (2.0 ± 1.1 vs. 1.5 ± 0.8, p = 0.001), poor reading comprehension (1.9 ± 1.1 vs. 1.4 ± 0.8, p = 0.003), frustration when speaking (1.8 ± 1.1 vs. 1.3 ± 0.6, p = 0.003), and difficulty concentrating (2.5 ± 1.2 vs. 1.8 + 1.0, p < 0.001)
Conclusion: FMS patients had median ratings for cognitive function that were significantly worse than patients with RA. FMS patients report significantly more symptoms of impaired concentration and mental fog. Fibrofog is a troubling problem for many fibromyalgia patients.
Disclosure:
R. S. Katz,
None;
B. J. Small,
None;
A. Small,
None;
S. Shott,
None.
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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/cognitive-symptoms-in-fibromyalgia-patients-compared-with-rheumatoid-arthritis-patients/