Background/Purpose:   We compared patients with the Fibromyalgia Syndrome (FMS) and Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients with respect to stresses that the patients believe may have caused their diseases to flare.

Methods:   201 office patients with FMS or RA (150 FMS:130 women and 20 men; mean age 51±12, 61 RA:45 women and 16 men; mean age 55±15) completed a questionnaire as to whether the following conditions caused their disease to flare: lack of sleep, fatigue, emotional stress, physical stress, depression, anxiety, traumatic events, overdoing it, being overworked, feeling overwhelmed, illness, personal changes, and confrontations with friends or family members. The chi-square test of association was done to compare FMS and RA patients with respect to their responses, using a 0.05 significance level.

Results:   FMS patients were significantly more likely than RA patients to report that stress caused their disease to flare including, with regard to frequency, emotional stress (58% vs. 43%, p= 0.042), physical stress (54% vs. 34%, p= 0.010), and also lack of sleep (53% vs. 33%, p= 0.007), concomitant illness (39% vs. 12%, p < 0.001), anxiety (31% vs. 16%, p= 0.027),depression (25% vs. 10%, p = 0.012), and traumatic events (25% vs. 12%, p = 0.026).

Conclusion:   FMS patients were significantly more likely to be sensitive to a variety of factors compared with RA patients. Fibromyalgia patients recognize many things that tend to aggravate their symptoms. Stress reduction strategies might help fibromyalgia patients.