Citation

Raphael KG, Janal MN, Nayak S. Pain Med. 2004; 5(1): 33-41.

Affiliation

University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Newark, New Jersey 07103, USA. raphaekg@umdnj.edu

Copyright

(Copyright © 2004, Oxford University Press)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

14996235

Abstract

OBJECTIVE: To test alternative explanations for the comorbidity between fibromyalgia (FM), a medically unexplained syndrome involving widespread pain, and posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD). In contrast to a default "risk factor" hypothesis, tested hypotheses were that: A) The association is due to a sampling bias introduced by the study of care-seeking individuals; B) FM is an additive burden that strains coping resources when confronting life stress; and C) Arousal symptoms of PTSD and FM are confounded. DESIGN: Community-dwelling women in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area (N=1,312) completed a telephone survey regarding FM-like symptoms prior to September 11, 2001. Approximately 6 months after the World Trade Center terrorist attacks, they again completed the survey, to which questions regarding PTSD symptoms were added. RESULTS: The odds of probable PTSD were more than three times greater in women with FM-like symptoms, both assessed after 9/11. The odds ratio was not reduced by controlling for FM-like symptoms before 9/11 or for the potentially confounded symptoms of PTSD specifically related to arousal. CONCLUSIONS: These findings lead us to reject alternate explanations for the comorbidity between FM and PTSD. Speculations that FM and PTSD share psychobiological risk factors remain plausible.

Language: en