A comparative study of feelings, attitudes and behaviors of patients with fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis.

The purpose of this explorative study was to administer a battery of questionnaires related to a broad number of psychosocial factors in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FS). By doing this, psychological factors associated with the consequences of chronic pain in patients with FS could be identified and studied in more depth. Thirty-one patients with FS were compared to 30 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) with regard to feelings about self, pain/ache preoccupation, support from significant others, psychosomatic symptoms, activities of daily living, job satisfaction, and future expectations.

A comparative study of pain description, emotional discomfort and health perception in patients with chronic pain syndrome and rheumatoid arthritis.

The purpose of the present study was to compare pain description and emotional and psychosomatic discomfort in patients with chronic pain syndrome (CPS) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in order to identify special characteristic features in patients with CPS. Methods used were a Visual Analogue Scale, the McGill Pain Questionnaire, a new pain, ache and hurt assessment tool and a questionnaire related to causes of pain, health perception and experienced emotional and psychosomatic discomfort. The patients with CPS perceived themselves as being less healthy than patients with RA.