ACR Meeting Abstracts

ACR Meeting Abstracts

  • Meetings
    • ACR Convergence 2024
    • ACR Convergence 2023
    • 2023 ACR/ARP PRSYM
    • ACR Convergence 2022
    • ACR Convergence 2021
    • ACR Convergence 2020
    • 2020 ACR/ARP PRSYM
    • 2019 ACR/ARP Annual Meeting
    • 2018-2009 Meetings
    • Download Abstracts
  • Keyword Index
  • Advanced Search
  • Your Favorites
    • Favorites
    • Login
    • View and print all favorites
    • Clear all your favorites
  • ACR Meetings

Abstract Number: 253

Fibromyalgia Patients Are Frequently Thought to be Challenging to Treat-Are They?

Robert S. Katz1 and Lauren Kwan2, 1Rush University Medical Center, Chicago, IL, 2Rheumatology Associates S.C., Chicago, IL

Meeting: 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

Keywords: Fibromyalgia and treatment

  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print
Session Information

Date: Sunday, October 21, 2018

Title: Fibromyalgia and Other Clinical Pain Syndromes Poster

Session Type: ACR Poster Session A

Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM

Background/Purpose:

Fibromyalgia patients can be time consuming to treat and difficult to manage. Especially challenging fibromyalgia patients tend to have many symptoms, ask many questions, are sometimes non-believing in their diagnosis. Some call this group ‘catastrophizers’. We evaluated the difficulty of caring for fibromyalgia patients in a rheumatology office practice.

Methods:

A rheumatologist and a rheumatology nurse both independently assessed the perceived difficulty of taking care of individual fibromyalgia patients. The difficulty of caring for each patient was discussed between the doctor and the rheumatology nurse until there was an agreement. Each patient met the 2010 ACR criteria for the diagnosis.

Patients were rated on a scale of one through three to indicate how challenging and exhausting they were to treat. (1 = easy; 2= moderate; 3 = difficult) Factors considered included the patient’s attitude and needs, the difficulty to treat, time spent compared with treating other rheumatic disease patients, and, in general, how challenging they were as patients.

Results:

350 fibromyalgia patients followed in a rheumatology office practice were evaluated. 132 (37.7%) patients were judged to be in Category One, easy to care for. 170 (48.6%) patients were considered to be in Category Two, moderately challenging for the rheumatologist and nurse. 48 (13.7%) patients were judged to be in Category Three, especially difficult to care for.

Conclusion:

Most fibromyalgia patients (86.3%) were rated by the rheumatologist and nurse as moderate or easy to care for. These patients appreciated the care given and the expertise, and were willing to consider lifestyle changes and medication.

Only 13.7% of the fibromyalgia patients in this office practice were considered to be exhausting and especially challenging to care for.

Fibromyalgia patients have an undeserved reputation for being extremely difficult to care for. The majority are not.


Disclosure: R. S. Katz, None; L. Kwan, None.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Katz RS, Kwan L. Fibromyalgia Patients Are Frequently Thought to be Challenging to Treat-Are They? [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2018; 70 (suppl 9). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/fibromyalgia-patients-are-frequently-thought-to-be-challenging-to-treat-are-they/. Accessed .
  • Tweet
  • Click to email a link to a friend (Opens in new window) Email
  • Click to print (Opens in new window) Print

« Back to 2018 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/fibromyalgia-patients-are-frequently-thought-to-be-challenging-to-treat-are-they/

Advanced Search

Your Favorites

You can save and print a list of your favorite abstracts during your browser session by clicking the “Favorite” button at the bottom of any abstract. View your favorites »

All abstracts accepted to ACR Convergence are under media embargo once the ACR has notified presenters of their abstract’s acceptance. They may be presented at other meetings or published as manuscripts after this time but should not be discussed in non-scholarly venues or outlets. The following embargo policies are strictly enforced by the ACR.

Accepted abstracts are made available to the public online in advance of the meeting and are published in a special online supplement of our scientific journal, Arthritis & Rheumatology. Information contained in those abstracts may not be released until the abstracts appear online. In an exception to the media embargo, academic institutions, private organizations, and companies with products whose value may be influenced by information contained in an abstract may issue a press release to coincide with the availability of an ACR abstract on the ACR website. However, the ACR continues to require that information that goes beyond that contained in the abstract (e.g., discussion of the abstract done as part of editorial news coverage) is under media embargo until 10:00 AM ET on November 14, 2024. Journalists with access to embargoed information cannot release articles or editorial news coverage before this time. Editorial news coverage is considered original articles/videos developed by employed journalists to report facts, commentary, and subject matter expert quotes in a narrative form using a variety of sources (e.g., research, announcements, press releases, events, etc.).

Violation of this policy may result in the abstract being withdrawn from the meeting and other measures deemed appropriate. Authors are responsible for notifying colleagues, institutions, communications firms, and all other stakeholders related to the development or promotion of the abstract about this policy. If you have questions about the ACR abstract embargo policy, please contact ACR abstracts staff at [email protected].

Wiley

  • Online Journal
  • Privacy Policy
  • Permissions Policies
  • Cookie Preferences

© Copyright 2025 American College of Rheumatology