Depressed Mood Impedes Pain Treatment Response in Patients with Fibromyalgia

ARNSTEIN FINSET, SIGRID HØRVEN WIGERS, and K. GUNNAR GÖTESTAM

ABSTRACT.

Objective. To investigate prognostic factors in the course of the fibromyalgia syndrome (FM) from baseline to post-treatment.

Methods. Fifty-seven patients with FM were examined in a randomized intervention study. Pre-treatment variables were entered into linear regression analyses: gender, age, duration of disease, allocation to treatment, pain distribution (based on a patient-made drawing), fatigue, sleep disturbance, and depressed mood (based on visual analog scores), with pain distribution at treatment completion as the dependent variable.

Results. Depressed mood at baseline was a significant predictor of sustained widespread pain at treatment completion.

Conclusion. The findings indicate a role for depressed mood as a predictive factor for treatment response. (J Rheumatol 2004;31:976-80)

Key Indexing Terms:

FIBROMYALGIA
DEPRESSION
TREATMENT

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From Department of Behavioural Sciences in Medicine, University of Oslo, Oslo,; The Rehabilitation Centre Jeløy Kurbad, Moss; and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Medicine, University of Trondheim, Trondheim, Norway.

Supported in part by The Research Council of Norway, Grant 101417/320.

A. Finset, PhD, Professor; S.H. Wigers, MD, PhD, Senior Consultant, Department of Behavioural Sciences in Medicine, University of Oslo; K.G. Götestam, MD, PhD, Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Medicine, University of Trondheim.

Address reprint requests to Dr. A. Finset, Department of Behavioural Sciences in Medicine, University of Oslo, POB 1111, Blindern, NO-0317, Oslo, Norway. E-mail:arnstein.finset@basalmed.uio.no

Submitted December 30, 2002; revision accepted November 21, 2003.

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