Evaluation of Illness Perception in Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fibromyalgia, Osteoarthritis and Neuropathic Pain and Its Correlation with Pain and Depression Scores

INTRODUCTION: The importance of illness perception is valid in diseases possessing different patterns of pain, including fibromyalgia (FM), rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoarthritis (OA), and neuropathic pain (NP). The aim of this observational study is to investigate the comparison of illness perception using the Illness Perception Questionnaire Revised (IPQ-R) and its correlation with the Beck Depression Inventory and Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) score in FM, RA, OA, and NP patients.
METHODS: A total of 30 RA, 29 OA, 29 FM, and 21 NP patients were enrolled in this cross-sectional study between May 2017 and February 2018. The patients’ demographic characteristics, comorbidities, duration of the disease, smoking status, VAS score, Beck Depression Inventory, and IPQ-R were recorded. Illness perception was compared among these diseases, and the relationship between the Beck Depression Inventory, VAS score, and illness perception was evaluated.
RESULTS: The Beck Depression Inventory was notably higher in NP patients (p=0.032). The emotional representation subgroup of IPQ-R was positively correlated with the Beck Depression Inventory in RA patients (rho: 0.643, p<0.001). Treatment control items, illness coherence items, and emotional representations were correlated with the Beck Depression Inventory in OA patients (rho: -0.406, -0.402, 0.381; p=0.023, 0.025, 0.034 respectively.
DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION: This evidence of the correlation between IPQ-R, VAS score, and Beck Depression Inventory suggests that more time should be allocated to explain the course of the disease to RA, OA, FM, and NP patients in order to increase both their illness perception and response to treatment.

Keywords: Fibromyalgia, illness perception, neuropathic pain, osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, VAS score, Beck depression inventory.