Relation of Age With Symptom Severity and Quality of Life in Patients With Fibromyalgia

Abstract Objective To examine the relation of age with symptom severity and quality of life (QOL) in patients with fibromyalgia, and to compare physical and mental health of our female patients with those of the US female general population. Patients and Methods We studied 978 patients with fibromyalgia from May 1, 2001 through April 30, 2004, and divided them into age groups of young (≤39 years), middle-aged (40-59 years), and older (≥60 years). They completed the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and the Short Form-36 Health Status Questionnaire (SF-36). Standardized SF-36 physical and mental health summary scores were compared with those of the US female general population of similar age. One-way analysis of variance and post hoc paired t test analyses were performed to detect differences across age groups. Results Pairwise comparison found young and middle-aged patients having worse fibromyalgia symptoms in all subscales except the anxiety subscale compared with older patients ( P ≤.01). Similarly, these young and middle-aged patients had worse QOL in the SF-36 mental component summary, as well as SF-36 general health perceptions, vitality, social functioning, and mental health index, compared with older patients (all P