Knowledge about Fibromyalgia in Fibromyalgia Patients and Its Relation to HRQoL and Physical Activity

SIMPLE SUMMARY: Fibromyalgia (FM) affects 2.40% of the Spanish population and its most widespread treatment has been the combination of patient education, pain coping strategies and exercise, in this sense, with respect to patient education, few studies have tried to see the relationship between education in FM with an improvement in FM. Therefore, the aim of this study was to know the level of knowledge about FM among patients in Extremadura, to explore the relationship between knowledge of FM and health-related quality of life (HRQoL), and to analyze the relationship between knowledge of physical activity in FM and the practice of physical activity. For this purpose, 121 women with a mean age of 55.06 years were evaluated. It was found that 10% of these women had low knowledge of FM, 49% medium and 41% high. It was also found that the level of knowledge of physical activity was only weakly related to HRQOL and body pain. Thus, it was concluded that the level of knowledge about FM of patients in Extremadura was medium-high and that there was a weak relationship between knowledge about physical activity in FM and HRQOL. However, no relationship was found between knowledge of physical activity in FM and the practice of physical activity. ABSTRACT: Introduction: Fibromyalgia (FM) affects 2.40% of the Spanish population. The most widespread treatment has been the combination of patient education, pain coping strategies and exercise. With regard to patient education, there are few previous studies on the efficacy of relating FM education in isolation with an improvement in FM, although there are some studies that report that health education programs could modify the perception of quality of life and improve pain. Objectives: the aim was to find out the level of knowledge about FM among patients in Extremadura, to explore the relationship between knowledge of FM and Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQoL) and to analyze the relationship between knowledge of physical activity in FM and the practice of physical activity. Methods: A single-measure cross-sectional study was carried out with 121 women with a mean age of 55.06 (±9.93) years. The following questionnaires were used: Fibromyalgia Knowledge Questionnaire (FKQ); SF12v2 (Short-Form Health Survey); and EURO-QOL-5D-5L (EQ-5D-5L). Results: regarding the level of knowledge of the participants about FM, it was found that 10% had a low knowledge, 49% medium and 41% high. In relation to the associations between the level of knowledge and HRQoL, a weak correlation between EQ-5D-5L and the FKQ in the domain of physical activity (r = 0.243) were found. Conclusions: it can be concluded that the level of knowledge about FM of the patients from Extremadura was medium-high and that there is a direct weak relationship between knowledge about physical activity in FM and HRQoL. However, no association was found between knowledge of physical activity in FM and the practice of physical activity.