Depressed mood impedes pain treatment response in patients with fibromyalgia

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.