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Body Image, Medication Use, and Mental Health among Women with Fibromyalgia in Flanders, Belgium

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic illness that does not have clear physical consequences, yet research shows that FM patients often have a low body image. An online cross-sectional study was conducted in Flanders, Belgium, among FM women who are connected to the Flemish League for fibromyalgia patients...

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Autores principales: Van Overmeire, Roel, Vesentini, Lara, Vanclooster, Stephanie, Muysewinkel, Emilie, Bilsen, Johan
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8835128/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35162441
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031418
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author Van Overmeire, Roel
Vesentini, Lara
Vanclooster, Stephanie
Muysewinkel, Emilie
Bilsen, Johan
author_facet Van Overmeire, Roel
Vesentini, Lara
Vanclooster, Stephanie
Muysewinkel, Emilie
Bilsen, Johan
author_sort Van Overmeire, Roel
collection PubMed
description Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic illness that does not have clear physical consequences, yet research shows that FM patients often have a low body image. An online cross-sectional study was conducted in Flanders, Belgium, among FM women who are connected to the Flemish League for fibromyalgia patients. An adjusted Body Image Scale (BIS) was used to assess body image, the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) was used for mental health, and the Visual Analogue Scale Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (VASFIQ) was used for FM symptoms. Medication use was assessed by using a 4-point Likert scale. Time since diagnosis and age was assessed. A total of 103 women with FM responded. Linear regression showed that BIS was best predicted in a model by using VASFIQ, GHQ-12, time since diagnosis, and sleep medication, wherein only the GHQ-12 was significant as a variable (B = 0.292; p = 0.009). This model explained 19.3% of the variance. The role of sleep medication use disappeared when controlling for mental health. Mental health was more clearly associated with body image than medication use, or even fibromyalgia symptoms. Thus, having negative mental health is associated with a negative body image. In order to improve the body image of FM patients, symptom control alone is not enough; improving mental health is equally important.
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spelling pubmed-88351282022-02-12 Body Image, Medication Use, and Mental Health among Women with Fibromyalgia in Flanders, Belgium Van Overmeire, Roel Vesentini, Lara Vanclooster, Stephanie Muysewinkel, Emilie Bilsen, Johan Int J Environ Res Public Health Article Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic illness that does not have clear physical consequences, yet research shows that FM patients often have a low body image. An online cross-sectional study was conducted in Flanders, Belgium, among FM women who are connected to the Flemish League for fibromyalgia patients. An adjusted Body Image Scale (BIS) was used to assess body image, the General Health Questionnaire-12 (GHQ-12) was used for mental health, and the Visual Analogue Scale Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (VASFIQ) was used for FM symptoms. Medication use was assessed by using a 4-point Likert scale. Time since diagnosis and age was assessed. A total of 103 women with FM responded. Linear regression showed that BIS was best predicted in a model by using VASFIQ, GHQ-12, time since diagnosis, and sleep medication, wherein only the GHQ-12 was significant as a variable (B = 0.292; p = 0.009). This model explained 19.3% of the variance. The role of sleep medication use disappeared when controlling for mental health. Mental health was more clearly associated with body image than medication use, or even fibromyalgia symptoms. Thus, having negative mental health is associated with a negative body image. In order to improve the body image of FM patients, symptom control alone is not enough; improving mental health is equally important. MDPI 2022-01-27 /pmc/articles/PMC8835128/ /pubmed/35162441 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031418 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Van Overmeire, Roel
Vesentini, Lara
Vanclooster, Stephanie
Muysewinkel, Emilie
Bilsen, Johan
Body Image, Medication Use, and Mental Health among Women with Fibromyalgia in Flanders, Belgium
title Body Image, Medication Use, and Mental Health among Women with Fibromyalgia in Flanders, Belgium
title_full Body Image, Medication Use, and Mental Health among Women with Fibromyalgia in Flanders, Belgium
title_fullStr Body Image, Medication Use, and Mental Health among Women with Fibromyalgia in Flanders, Belgium
title_full_unstemmed Body Image, Medication Use, and Mental Health among Women with Fibromyalgia in Flanders, Belgium
title_short Body Image, Medication Use, and Mental Health among Women with Fibromyalgia in Flanders, Belgium
title_sort body image, medication use, and mental health among women with fibromyalgia in flanders, belgium
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8835128/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/35162441
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19031418
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