Evaluation of pain and quality of life of fibromyalgia patients Avaliação de dor e qualidade de vida de pacientes com fibromialgia

ABSTRACTBACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES : It is known that fibro-myalgia is a musculoskeletal syndrome characterized by chronic and widespread pain. Considering that pain has direct implica-tions on affected patients’ lives, this study aimed at evaluating pain and quality of life of fibromyalgia patients to better under-stand the correlation between such variables.METHODS : Cross-sectional study with 45 females aged be-tween 30 and 55 years, in stable treatment in the month previ-ous to selection, being excluded those under physiotherapeutic treatment, using walking aids and/or with autoimmune rheuma-tologic diseases or relevant uncontrolled comorbidities. Patients were evaluated with interview records, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, Widespread Pain Index and visual analog scale. Data were analyzed by Pearson Correlation and Student t tests, with statistical significance above 95%. RESULTS : There have been high scores in Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire, Widespread Pain Index and visual analog scale, in addition to linear correlation between pain scores and quality of life.