Fatigue, pain weigh down people with fibromyalgia

Several symptoms of individuals with fibromyalgia (FM), including fatigue and sleep disturbance, have significant impacts on their daily life, and the prevalence of such symptoms may vary depending on demographic categories and disability status, according to a study.

Semistructured interviews were conducted in 15 individuals with FM, with a total of 1,479 quotes on the symptomatic burden of FM obtained. The researchers then conducted an international cross-sectional study involving 1,085 participants with FM to determine the prevalence and importance (scale 0‒4) of 149 symptoms representing 14 symptomatic themes.

Subgroup analysis was also carried out to understand how factors such as age, sex, disease duration, medication use, employment status, missing work due to FM, and ability level are associated with symptomatic theme prevalence.

The symptomatic themes with the highest prevalence in FM were pain (99.8 percent) and muscle tenderness (99.8 percent), closely followed by fatigue (99.3 percent). The symptom that had the greatest impact on the patients’ daily lives were fatigue (2.88), followed by pain (2.85), muscle tenderness (2.79), and impaired sleep and daytime sleepiness (2.70).

Notably, symptomatic theme prevalence showed a robust association with the modified Rankin Scale level of disability, disability status, and change in employment status (on disability vs not on disability).

“Many of these symptoms, such as fatigue, sleep disturbance, and activity limitation, are life-altering and not related to traditional diagnostic criteria,” the researchers said.