Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 May;50(5):684-689.
doi: 10.3899/jrheum.220507. Epub 2022 Dec 15.

Predicting Disease Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis With the Fibromyalgia Survey Questionnaire: Does the Severity of Fibromyalgia Symptoms Matter?

Affiliations

Predicting Disease Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis With the Fibromyalgia Survey Questionnaire: Does the Severity of Fibromyalgia Symptoms Matter?

Alexander M Gorzewski et al. J Rheumatol. 2023 May.

Abstract

Objective: To determine if the degree of baseline fibromyalgia (FM) symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), as indicated by the Fibromyalgia Survey Questionnaire (FSQ) score, predicts RA disease activity after initiation or change of a disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD).

Methods: One hundred ninety-two participants with active RA were followed for 12 weeks after initiation or change of DMARD therapy. Participants completed the FSQ at the initial visit. The Disease Activity Score in 28 joints using C-reactive protein (DAS28-CRP) was measured at baseline and follow-up to assess RA disease activity. We evaluated the association between baseline FSQ score and follow-up DAS28-CRP. As a secondary analysis, we examined the relationship between the 2 components of the FSQ, the Widespread Pain Index (WPI) and Symptom Severity Scale (SSS), with follow-up DAS28-CRP. Multiple linear regression analyses were performed, adjusting for clinical and demographic variables.

Results: In multiple linear regression models, FSQ score was independently associated with elevated DAS28-CRP scores 12 weeks after DMARD initiation (B = 0.04, P = 0.01). In secondary analyses, the WPI was significantly associated with increased follow-up DAS28-CRP scores (B = 0.08, P = 0.001), whereas the SSS was not (B = -0.03, P = 0.43).

Conclusion: Higher levels of FM symptoms weakly predicted worse disease activity after treatment. The primary factor that informed the FSQ's prediction of disease activity was the spatial extent of pain, as measured by the WPI.

Keywords: disease activity; fibromyalgia; rheumatoid arthritis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

YCL, LNM, and JS were supported by NIH/NIAMS P30 AR072579. YCL has also received research support from Pfizer, consulted for Sanofi Genzyme (<$10,000), and has stock in Cigna. MBB has received grant funding from the Rheumatology Research Foundation, clinical trials support from Genentech, and honoria from the American Board of Internal Medicine and Merck Manual, respectively. She is an associate editor for PracticeUpdate and Advanced Rheumatology Course (ACR/ARP). COB receives support from NIH (AR070254).

Similar articles

References

    1. Einarsson JT, Willim M, Ernestam S, Saxne T, Geborek P, Kapetanovic MC. Prevalence of sustained remission in rheumatoid arthritis: impact of criteria sets and disease duration, a Nationwide Study in Sweden. Rheumatology 2019;58:227–36. - PubMed
    1. Uhlig T, Lie E, Norvang V, Lexberg ÅS, Rødevand E, Krøll F, et al. Achievement of Remission and Low Disease Activity Definitions in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis in Clinical Practice: Results from the NOR-DMARD Study. J Rheumatol 2016;43:716–23. - PubMed
    1. Romão VC, Canhão H, Fonseca JE. Old drugs, old problems: where do we stand in prediction of rheumatoid arthritis responsiveness to methotrexate and other synthetic DMARDs? BMC Med 2013;11:17. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Nouri B, Nair N, Barton A. Predicting treatment response to IL6R blockers in rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatology 2020;59:3603–10. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wijbrandts CA, Tak PP. Prediction of Response to Targeted Treatment in Rheumatoid Arthritis. Mayo Clin Proc 2017;92:1129–43. - PubMed

Publication types