Sex-related demographic and symptomatologic characteristics of patients with fibromyalgia

Abstract

To assess sex-related characteristics in patients with fibromyalgia, specifically in terms of patient demographics (age, body mass index, marital status, and educational level), tender point count, symptoms (cognition, sleep disorder, fatigue, anxiety, and depression), and quality-of-life measurements. We studied 668 consecutive patients (606 women) who participated in the Fibromyalgia Treatment Program at Mayo Clinic (Rochester, Minnesota) from May 2012 through November 2013. All patients completed a series of questionnaires at the initial consult, including the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ-9), the Generalized Anxiety Disorder-7 (GAD-7), the Medical Outcomes Study Sleep Scale (MOS-Sleep Scale), the Revised Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ-R), the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI-20), the Multiple Ability Self-Report Questionnaire (MASQ), and the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). Non-parametric Wilcoxon rank test and the Chi 2 test for continuous variables and categorical variables were used to detect differences between sexes. We observed no significant sex-based differences in demographics, including age, marital status, and educational level. Likewise, no significant sex differences were seen in body mass index, mood, sleep, cognition, symptom impact, or fatigue. However, women had a significantly higher tender point count than men ( P = 0.001). The only sex-related difference observed in our cohort was the tender point count; the assumption of other sex-based differences in the clinical presentation of fibromyalgia was not supported in our study.