Evaluating disease severity in chronic pain patients with and without fibromyalgia: A comparison of the symptom impact questionnaire and the polysymptomatic distress scale

Ronald Friend, Robert M. Bennett

    Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

    6 Scopus citations

    Abstract

    Objective. To compare the relative effectiveness of the Polysymptomatic Distress Scale (PSD) with the Symptom Impact Questionnaire (SIQR), the disease-neutral revision of the updated Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQR), in their ability to assess disease activity in patients with rheumatic disorders both with and without fibromyalgia (FM). Methods. The study included 321 patients from 8 clinical practices with some 16 different chronic pain disorders. Disease severity was assessed by the Medical Outcomes Study Short Form-36 (SF-36). Univariate analyses were used to assess the magnitude of PSD and SIQR correlations with SF-36 subscales. Hierarchical stepwise regression was used to evaluate the unique contribution of the PSD and SIQR to the SF-36. Random forest regression probed the relative importance of the SIQR and PSD components as predictors of SF-36. Results. The correlations with the SF-36 subscales were significantly higher for the SIQR (0.48 to 0.78) than the PSD (0.29 to 0.56; p < 0.001). Stepwise regression revealed that the SIQR was contributing additional unique variance on SF-36 subscales, which was not the case for the PSD. Random forest regression showed SIQR Function, Symptoms, and Global Impact subscales were more important predictors of SF-36 than the PSD. The single SIQR pain item contributed 55% of SF-36 pain variance compared to 23% with the 19-point WPI (the Widespread Pain Index component of PSD). Conclusion. The SIQR, the disease-neutral revision of the updated FIQ, has several important advantages over the PSD in the evaluation of disease severity in chronic pain disorders.

    Original languageEnglish (US)
    Pages (from-to)2404-2411
    Number of pages8
    JournalJournal of Rheumatology
    Volume42
    Issue number12
    DOIs
    StatePublished - Dec 2015

    Keywords

    • Fibromyalgia
    • Fibromyalgia impact questionnaire
    • Medical outcomes study short form-36
    • Polysymptomatic distress
    • Polysymptomatic distress scale
    • Symptom impact questionnaire

    ASJC Scopus subject areas

    • Rheumatology
    • Immunology and Allergy
    • Immunology

    Fingerprint

    Dive into the research topics of 'Evaluating disease severity in chronic pain patients with and without fibromyalgia: A comparison of the symptom impact questionnaire and the polysymptomatic distress scale'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

    Cite this