A Spanish study published in the Journal of Clinical and Experimental Neuropsychology states that most women with fibromyalgia say they have memory problems and can’t concentrate, and the majority also suffer from anxiety and depression.
Fibromyalgia is a chronic pain disorder characterized by widespread musculoskeletal pain and tenderness, fatigue, sleep disturbances, memory, and mood issues. Researchers believe that this condition amplifies painful sensations by affecting the way the brain processes pain signals. The condition tends to affect women more than it does men. Patients commonly have cognitive complaints, but doctors aren’t clear whether this is because of cognitive dysfunction or if clinical depression is the cause.
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“Despite the wide acceptance of a high frequency of subjective cognitive complaints in patients with fibromyalgia, very few previous studies have specifically sought to quantify the extent of such complaints in this population,” according to authors of the study, which took place at Santa Maria Hospital in Lleida, a city in Spain’s northeastern Catalonia region
The study took place between August 2013 and March 2014 and recruited 105 women with fibromyalgia. Researchers performed neuropsychological assessments, which included measures of attention and executive functions. Patients were assessed by completing questionnaires of several topics including cognitive complaints, anxiety, depression, pain intensity, physical functioning, quality of sleep, and quality of life.
They reported that nearly 83 percent of the women had cognitive complaints, 23 percent of them mild and the other 60 percent moderate to severe. Depressive symptoms were generally described as low working memory ability and low everyday physical functioning and were more common in women who reported cognitive complaints. Collectively, 82 percent of women had symptoms of depression and 70 percent had “significant levels of anxiety,” while 68.6 percent of the participants had both depression and anxiety.
“The results of this study confirm that subjective cognitive complaints are very frequent in fibromyalgia patients, but that they are not exclusively related to depressive symptoms; functional and objective cognitive dysfunction could also be involved in their manifestation,” researchers wrote. They also urged doctors to “not minimize” cognitive complaints by their patients.
Related: Short-term memory loss: Causes and treatments
Emily Lunardo studied medical sociology at York University with a strong focus on the social determinants of health and mental illness. She is a registered Zumba instructor, as well as a Canfit Pro trainer, who teaches fitness classes on a weekly basis. Emily practices healthy habits in her own life as well as helps others with their own personal health goals. Emily joined Bel Marra Health as a health writer in 2013.
