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Type D personality and self-esteem in patients with fibromyalgia: a cross-sectional case–control study

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Abstract

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a complex disease related to several factors. Psychosocial elements, such as type D personality and low level of self-esteem, might increase disease burden. The current study aimed to investigate type D personality and self-esteem in patients with FM. Female patients with FM and age-matched, healthy controls were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Type D personality was evaluated using the type D scale (DS-14). The Rosenberg self-esteem scale (RSES) was used to assess self-esteem and psychosomatic symptoms. Type D personality was observed in 58.6% of the patients (n = 70) and in 21.7% of the controls (n = 60) (p < 0.001). When compared to patients with non-type D personality, those with type D personality revealed lower self-esteem and poorer health status (p < 0.05 for both), and higher anxiety and depression scores (p < 0.001 for both). In binary logistic regression analysis, the odds of FM were 3.6 times higher (OR = 3.653, 95% CI 1.547–8.625) for patients with type D personality, after adjusting for age and education level. In addition, depression (OR= 1.178, Cl 95% 1.055 − 1.316) and lower education level (OR= 0.818, Cl 95% 0.682 − 0.982) were significantly related to type D personality in FM. Type D personality is closely associated with FM. Type D personality is more common in female patients with FM when compared to healthy women. Depression and lower education level are potential confounders of type D personality in FM.

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Data availability

Data are available upon reasonable request. The data supporting the findings of this study are documented within the paper and are available from the corresponding author upon request.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank all the patients who consented to be involved in this study.

Funding

The present study was not funded by any institution.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Rheumatology, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey

    Neslihan Gokcen

  2. Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey

    Ilke Coskun Benlidayi & Rengin Guzel

  3. Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Cukurova University, Adana, Turkey

    Lut Tamam, Mehmet Emin Demirkol & Caner Yesiloglu

Authors
  1. Neslihan Gokcen
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  2. Ilke Coskun Benlidayi
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  3. Lut Tamam
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  4. Mehmet Emin Demirkol
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  5. Caner Yesiloglu
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  6. Rengin Guzel
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Contributions

All authors contributed to the study design. NG, ICB, and MED collected the data. NG, ICB, and CY analyzed the data and took responsibility for the accuracy of the data analysis. All authors interpreted the data and drafted the manuscript. NG and ICB critically revised the manuscript for important contents. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Neslihan Gokcen.

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The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this article.

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The study was approved by the ethics committee of Cukurova University Faculty of Medicine (Date 5-June-2015, Number 43/6).

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Gokcen, N., Coskun Benlidayi, I., Tamam, L. et al. Type D personality and self-esteem in patients with fibromyalgia: a cross-sectional case–control study. Rheumatol Int 42, 1027–1034 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-022-05118-z

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