Development and validation of Fibromyalgia Knowledge Questionnaire: FKQ.

UNLABELLED: The objective of this study is to develop and validate a questionnaire for evaluating patients' specific knowledge regarding fibromyalgia. The development of items and questions of the questionnaire was done using four focus group that included physicians, physical therapists, a nurse, and patients with fibromyalgia. Other 30 consecutive patients were recruited to evaluate the questionnaire's reproducibility (intra- and inter-observer). In order to construct validity, the questionnaire was applied to healthcare professionals with knowledge on fibromyalgia and 20 other patients. To investigate sensitivity to change, the questionnaire was applied to 56 patients before and after an educational program (intervention group) or a waiting list (control group). Eighteen questions fulfilled the inclusion criteria and were understandable for more than 90% of the participants. The intraclass correlation coefficients for inter-observer and intra-observer reproducibility ranged from 0.65 to 0.90 and from 0.86 to 0.96, respectively (P < 0.01). For construct validation, healthcare professionals obtained significant higher scores than the patients (P < 0.01). On the sensitivity to change evaluation, the intervention group obtained higher scores than the control group after the educational program (P < 0.01). CONCLUSION: The Fibromyalgia Knowledge Questionnaire was developed and it is reliable, valid, and sensitive to changes, for evaluating disease-specific knowledge in patients with fibromyalgia.

Peak oxygen uptake and ventilatory anaerobic threshold in fibromyalgia.

OBJECTIVE: To compare maximum oxygen uptake and anaerobic threshold in patients with fibromyalgia (FM) and healthy sedentary controls matched by sex, age, weight, and body mass index. METHODS: Fifty women with FM aged 18-60 years and 50 healthy sedentary controls were studied. All were submitted to a maximum treadmill incremental test. Expired gas, ventilatory anaerobic threshold, and maximum oxygen uptake (VO2max) were evaluated. The influence of FM on quality of life was evaluated by questionnaires: the Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire and the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form (SF-36). RESULTS: In patients with FM, the anaerobic threshold and peak oxygen uptake were significantly reduced. Maximum heartbeat rate was significantly lower in FM, indicating submaximum effort. Linear regression data showed a correlation between peak VO2 and the "Role-physical" domain of the SF-36. No such correlations were noted with anaerobic threshold. CONCLUSION: These results confirm the hypothesis of lower physical fitness in patients with FM. Considering that patients with FM do not achieve a maximum effort, ventilatory anaerobic threshold should be considered as a better fitness index than VO2max.