Background/Purpose:  We compared treatment outcomes between newly diagnosed versus formerly diagnosed patients seen in the brief interdisciplinary fibromyalgia treatment program (FTP). The FTP includes diagnostic evaluation as well as treatment, focused on cognitive behavioral therapy.

Methods:  We studied 978 fibromyalgia who underwent the FTP and met the 1990 ACR clinical criteria for fibromyalgia. We abstracted the patients’ diagnosis information from electronic medical record. All the 978 patients completed the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and the Short Form-36 Health Status Questionnaire (SF-36) at baseline.

Results:  Five hundreds thirty-five patients (55%) received diagnosis of fibromyalgia when seen in FTP and were defined as newly diagnosed group. The rest, 443 patients (45%), were previously diagnosed with fibromyalgia and were confirmed to have fibromyalgia at the FTP, were defined as formerly diagnosed group. It had been 3.6 (9.2 SD) years for those formerly diagnosed patients had their fibromylgia diagnosed before they seen in FTP. Those formerly diagnosed patients were more likely to be older, and to have higher BMI and longer duration of fibromyalgia symptoms compared to early diagnosed patients. After adjusting for these differences, no differences were found in the FIQ total score, FIQ subscales, and all the SF-36 subscores between newly and formerly diagnosed patients. After treatment, 313 patients (58.5%) in newly diagnosed group and 224 patients (50.3%) in formerly diagnosed group completed the 6-12 month follow-up questionnaires, and both groups tended to improve excepted for the FIQ depression subscale and SF-36 general health perceptions and role emotional subscores; however, the formerly diagnosed patients had significantly less improvement in the FIQ subscales in work missed days (P=0.04).

Conclusion:  In our clinic sample, included both newly and formerly diagnosed patient with over ½ being newly diagnosed, there was no differences on symptom severity and quality of live between newly and formerly diagnosed fibromyalgia patients. Both groups benefited from the FTP similarly. Brief, interdisciplinary FTP could both benefit incident and prevalent fibromyalgia patients; moreover, these newly diagnosed patients might miss less work days after treatment. Further studies are needed to verify our results and to demonstrate the mechanisms underneath this phenomenon.

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ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/treatment-outcomes-of-newly-and-formerly-diagnosed-patients-with-fibromyalgia-after-fibromyalgia-treatment-program/