To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu

Title: Women with Fibromyalgia Experience Significant Pain During Routine Mammography: Presented at WCP

"Women with Fibromyalgia Experience Significant Pain During Routine Mammography: Presented at WCP"

By Peggy Peck Special to DG News 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.

Copyright © 2008 P\S\L Consulting Group Inc. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of P\S\L content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of P\S\L. P\S\L shall not be liable for any errors, omissions or delays in this content or any other content on its sites, newsletters or other publications, nor for any decisions or actions taken in reliance on such content.