Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Fibromyalgia subgroups: profiling distinct subgroups using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire. A preliminary study

  • Original Article
  • Published:
Rheumatology International Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The main goal of this project was to identify the presence of fibromyalgia (FM) subgroups using a simple and frequently used clinical tool, the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ). A total of 61 women diagnosed with FM participated in this study. FM subgroups were created by applying a hierarchical cluster analysis on selected items of the FIQ (pain, fatigue, morning tiredness, stiffness, anxiety and depressive symptoms). We also tested for group differences on experimental pain, psychosocial functioning and demographic characteristics. Two cluster profiles best fit our data. FM-Type I was characterized by the lowest levels of anxiety, depressive and morning tiredness symptoms, while FM-Type II was characterized by elevated levels of pain, fatigue, morning tiredness, stiffness, anxiety and depressive symptoms. Both FM subgroups showed hyperalgesic responses to experimental pain. These results suggest that pain and stiffness are universal symptoms of the disorder but that psychological distress is a feature present only in some patients.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. Wolfe F, Smythe HA, Yunus MB et al (1990) The American College of Rheumatology 1990 Criteria for the Classification of Fibromyalgia Report of the Multicenter Criteria Committee. Arthritis Rheum 33:160–172

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  2. Burckhardt CS, Clark SR, Bennett RM (1991) The Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire: development and validation. J Rheumatol 18:728–733

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Turk DC, Okifuji A, Sinclair JD, Starz TW (1996) Pain, disability, and physical functioning in subgroups of patients with fibromyalgia. J Rheumatol 23:1255–1262

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Turk DC, Okifuji A, Sinclair JD, Starz TW (1998) Differential responses by psychosocial subgroups of fibromyalgia syndrome patients to an interdisciplinary treatment. Arthritis Care Res 11:397–404

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Giesecke T, Williams DA, Harris RE et al (2003) Subgrouping of fibromyalgia patients on the basis of pressure-pain thresholds and psychological factors. Arthritis Rheum 48:2916–2922

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  6. Naschitz JE, Rozenbaum M, Rosner I et al (2001) Cardiovascular response to upright tilt in fibromyalgia differs from that in chronic fatigue syndrome. J Rheumatol 28:1356–1360

    PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Graven-Nielsen T, Aspegren KS, Henriksson KG et al (2000) Ketamine reduces muscle pain, temporal summation, and referred pain in fibromyalgia patients. Pain 85:483–491

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Hurtig IM, Raak RI, Kendall SA, Gerdle B, Wahren LK (2001) Quantitative sensory testing in fibromyalgia patients and in healthy subjects: Identification of subgroups. Clin J Pain 17:316–322

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Turk DC (2005) The potential of treatment matching for subgroups of patients with chronic pain: lumping versus splitting. Clin J Pain 21:44–55

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  10. Muller W, Schneider EM, Stratz T (2007) The classification of fibromyalgia syndrome. Rheumatol Int 27:1005–1010

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Robinson ME, Brown JL, George SZ et al (2005) Multidimensional success criteria and expectations for treatment of chronic pain: the patient perspective. Pain Med 6:336–345

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  12. Raak R, Hurtig I, Wahren LK (2003) Coping strategies and life satisfaction in subgrouped fibromyalgia patients. Biol Res Nurs 4:193–202

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  13. Hamilton NA, Karoly P, Zautra AJ (2005) Health goal cognition and adjustment in women with fibromyalgia. J Behav Med 28:1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  14. Marques AP, Ferreira EA, Matsutani LA, Pereira CA, Assumpcao A (2005) Quantifying pain threshold and quality of life of fibromyalgia patients. Clin Rheumatol 24:266–271

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  15. Perrot S, Dumont D, Guillemin F, Pouchot J, Coste J (2003) Quality of life in women with fibromyalgia syndrome: validation of the QIF, the French version of the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire. J Rheumatol 30:1054–1059

    PubMed  Google Scholar 

  16. Kerns RD, Turk DC, Rudy TE (1985) The west Haven-Yale multidimensional pain inventory (WHYMPI). Pain 23:345–356

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  17. Laliberté S, Sullivan MJL, Charron JLJ, Bouthiller D, Miller J-M, Tremblay I (2005) Du Multidimensional Pain Inventory à l’inventaire multidimensionnel de la douleur : traduction et validation. Canadian Pain Society Meeting (abstract)

  18. Ware JE Jr (2000) SF-36 health survey update. Spine 25:3130–3139

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  19. Leplege A, Ecosse E, Verdier A, Perneger TV (1998) The French SF-36 Health Survey: translation, cultural adaptation and preliminary psychometric evaluation. J Clin Epidemiol 51:1013–1023

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  20. Sullivan MJL, Bishop S, Pivik J (1995) The pain catastrophizing scale: development and validation. Psychol Assess 7:524–532

    Article  Google Scholar 

  21. French DJ, Noel M, Vigneau F, French JA, Cyr CP, Evans RT (2005) L’Échelle de dramatisation face à la douleur PCS-CF Adaptation canadienne en langue française de l’échelle «Pain Catastrophizing Scale». Revue canadienne des sciences du comportement 37:181–192

    Article  Google Scholar 

  22. Marchand S, Arsenault P (2002) Spatial summation for pain perception: interaction of inhibitory and excitatory mechanisms. Pain 95:201–206

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  23. Marchand S, Charest J, Li J, Chenard JR, Lavignolle B, Laurencelle L (1993) Is TENS purely a placebo effect? A controlled study on chronic low back pain. Pain 54:99–106

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  24. Aldenderfer MS, Blashfield RK (1984) Cluster analysis. Sage Press, Beverly Hills

    Google Scholar 

  25. Milligan GW, Cooper MC (1985) An examination of procedures for determining the number of clusters in a data set. Psychometrika 50:159–179

    Article  Google Scholar 

  26. Kosek E, Ekholm J, Hansson P (1996) Sensory dysfunction in fibromyalgia patients with implications for pathogenic mechanisms. Pain 68:375–383

    Article  PubMed  CAS  Google Scholar 

  27. Julien N, Goffaux P, Arsenault P, Marchand S (2005) Widespread pain in fibromyalgia is related to a deficit of endogenous pain inhibition. Pain 114:295–302

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  28. Lowe B, Grafe K, Ufer C et al (2004) Anxiety and depression in patients with pulmonary hypertension. Psychosom Med 66:831–836

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  29. Barth J, Schumacher M, Herrmann-Lingen C (2004) Depression as a risk factor for mortality in patients with coronary heart disease: a meta-analysis. Psychosom Med 66:802–813

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  30. Maddigan SL, Feeny DH, Majumdar SR, Farris KB, Johnson JA (2006) Understanding the determinants of health for people with type 2 diabetes. Am J Public Health 96:1649–1655

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

This research was supported by Dr. Marchand’s research grants from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the FRSQ Centre de recherche clinique Étienne-Le Bel du CHUS and by a postgraduate scholarship from the Coordenadoria de Aperfeicoamento de Pessoal do Ensino Superior (CAPES, subordinate to the Brazilian Ministry of Education and Culture) given to Juliana Barcellos de Souza. We thank Paule Julien and Stéphanie Pagé for providing excellent technical assistance and our participants for volunteering in this study.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculté de Médecine et des Sciences de la Santé, Université de Sherbrooke, Axe Douleur CRC-CHUS, 3001, 12e Avenue Nord, Sherbrooke, QC, J1H 5N4, Canada

    Juliana Barcellos de Souza, Philippe Goffaux, Stephane Potvin & Serge Marchand

  2. Département des Sciences de la Santé, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Rouyn-Noranda, QC, Canada

    Nancy Julien, Jacques Charest & Serge Marchand

Authors
  1. Juliana Barcellos de Souza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Philippe Goffaux
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Nancy Julien
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Stephane Potvin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Jacques Charest
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  6. Serge Marchand
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Serge Marchand.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

de Souza, J.B., Goffaux, P., Julien, N. et al. Fibromyalgia subgroups: profiling distinct subgroups using the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire. A preliminary study. Rheumatol Int 29, 509–515 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-008-0722-5

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00296-008-0722-5

Keywords

Search

Navigation