Rehabilitation program improves quality of life in fibromyalgia patients up to one year: Preliminary results

Introduction/Background Cognitive behaviour therapy (CBT) and graded activity (GA) have a beneficial effect on the Quality of life (QoL) of patients with fibromyalgia. However the question remains how long this effect will last. Material and method Patients with fibromyalgia meeting the 1990 ACR classification criteria are well informed about the problem of fibromyalgia and checked on motivation before starting the program. They were evaluated by the SF36v2 questionnaire at the beginning (T0) of an 8-week multidisciplinary (psychologist, occupational therapist and physical therapist) rehabilitation program, at the end of the 8 week program (T1), at 6 months (T2) and 1 year (T3). Results So far, of the 88 patients that were included, 71 were evaluated after 8 weeks, 55 after 6 months and 30 had a final evaluation after 1 year. Dropout at 1 year is 5/35 (14%). At 8 weeks, a substantial improvement compared to baseline was noticed in all subscales of the SF-36v2. At 6 months, the effect was slightly reduced, but both Physical Component Summary score and Mental Component Summary score were still significantly improved when compared to baseline ( P P Conclusion One year after starting the rehabilitation program with CBT and GA, QoL has consistently improved. The effect was most explicit in the domain of Role Limitations (physical), General Health, Energy and Vitality and weakest in the domain of Physical Functioning.