Fibromyalgia is a syndrome described by multifaceted symptoms that adversely impact the quality of life. It shows greater prevalence in women and manifests as widespread pain, fatigue, anxiety, and depression. Different interventions and guidelines exist for clinical management and diagnosis of fibromyalgia; however are fraught with limiting factors due to the heterogeneity of associated symptoms, chronicity, and therapies with marked side effects.

A recent study thus evaluated the therapeutic interventions that improve the different domains of quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia. It systematically searched the PUBMED, SCOPUS, LILACS, and Web of Science databases between March 1, 2020, and May 08, 2021. 

It included 13 randomized clinical trials with 3,339 patients (92.2% female) with a pre-established diagnosis of fibromyalgia. Fifteen interventions discussed overall QOL and its physical and mental domains. The results demonstrated high-quality evidence with positive findings for pain, physical functioning, anxiety, and depression with pharmacological and behavioral interventions. 

High-quality evidence supports using pregabalin for overall quality of life and the physical domain (pain and function), cognitive behavior therapy, and milnacipran for the physical domain of quality of life (pain and function), and moderate-quality evidence supports cognitive behavioral therapy for the domain psychological (anxiety and depression).

Research, Society and Development. 2022;11(9). https://doi.org/10.33448/rsd-v11i9.31684