Childhood Traumatic Experiences, Anxiety, and Depression Levels in Fibromyalgia and Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Background: The close relationship between chronic pain, anxiety, depression, and childhood traumatic experiences is well known. The aim of this study is to investigate childhood traumatic experiences, anxiety, and depression levels in patients with fibromyalgia and rheumatoid arthritis, which are diseases that cause chronic pain.

Methods: A total of 30 patients with fibromyalgia, 30 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and 30 healthy controls, matched with patients with respect to gender, age, and education, were included in the study (90 participants in total). All participants were given a form for sociodemographic characteristics, the Childhood Trauma Questionnaire (CTQ), and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD). Patients were also asked to complete a numeric pain scale (NPS).

Results: Patients with fibromyalgia reported significantly higher scores for CTQ emotional abuse and HAD depression compared with healthy controls. Patients with fibromyalgia reported significantly higher scores for HAD anxiety than both healthy controls and patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis reported significantly higher scores for CTQ emotional abuse and HAD depression compared with healthy controls. Pain scores of patients with fibromyalgia were higher than in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Participants who had scores over the threshold on HAD anxiety and depression had significantly higher scores on CTQ sexual abuse.

Conclusions: Both patients with fibromyalgia and patients with rheumatoid arthritis have high levels of childhood traumatic experiences and depression. Patients with pain-related disorders should be examined for childhood traumatic experiences, anxiety, and depression for better treatment outcomes.