Women with Fibromyalgia Experience Significant Pain During Routine Mammography

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Women with Fibromyalgia Experience Significant Pain During Routine

Mammography

By Peggy Peck

SAN DIEGO, CA -- August 22, 2002 -- Results of a survey of women with

fibromyalgia suggest that women with fibromyalgia experience significant

pain during mammography and thus may avoid routine screening, according to

results presented August 21st at the 10th World Congress on Pain.

Ursula Haemmerer, PhD, of the University of Utah, in Salt Lake City, Utah,

United States, said in an interview that " women with fibromyalgia require

pain management during mammography, which is not routinely done. " She said

that women with fibromyalgia may also require additional counseling to

encourage them to undergo routine screening procedures " because they

associate the exams with pain. "

Dr. Haemmerer and her co-author Akiko Okifuji, MD, mailed a questionnaire to

100 women aged 40 or older, who were randomly selected from the database of

fibromyalgia patients and who had expressed interest in participating in

university-based research.

Patients were asked to rate pain and anxiety during their last mammography

and Pap smear on the scale of 0-10. Fifty-nine patients of the 93 reachable

patients responded, yielding a response rate of 63 percent.

The mean age of the women was 57 years. Mean pain scores were 4.32 (SD=

2.47) for mammography and 2.45 (SD=2.16) for Pap smear, showing that the

women found a mammography to be significantly more painful than a Pap smear

(p<.05).

Mean anxiety scores were 2.33 (SD=2.74) during mammography and 2.22

(SD=2.35) during Pap smear, which was not significant.

Dr. Haemmerer said that the women said that pain deterred them from seeking

regular mammograms " which is a concern since mammography is the best

screening tool for breast cancer. " She said there are no data that suggest

women with " fibromyalgia have a higher risk for breast cancer, yet these

women often have lifestyles-obesity, smoking-that are associated with

increased risk. Thus, screening may be even more important in this

population. "

This project was supported by National Institutes of Health grants.