Assessing the impact of emotional regulation in fibromyalgia patients

While fibromyalgia patients (FM) report more somatic and emotional distress than arthritis patients or medical control patients, no construct has emerged to improve our understanding of this phenomena. This research examined the role of emotional regulation skills in reported disability and health-related quality of life (HRQol) in patients with fibromyalgia arthritis and medical controls. Emotional regulation (i.e. attention to one's mood, clarity of one's mood and repair of mood) was proposed to account for unique variance in HRQol of these populations.;Three hundred and nine female patients (ages 20–93) were recruited from rheumatology, family medicine clinics and the community. Patients completed the Trail Meta Mood Scale (TMMS), Quality of Well-Being Scale. Self-Administered (QWB-SA), Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), Arthritis Impact Measurement (AIMS) and Rapid Assessment of Disease (RADAR). FM patients were also assessed with a tender point examination.;Results indicated that FM patients had significantly greater disability, reported more symptoms overall than arthritis or medical control patients and reported greater pain, anxiety and depression than arthritis patients. Clarity of mood accounted for variance in disability, anxiety, and depression in FM patients, while attention to mood accounted for variance in joint pain and disability for arthritis patients.;Significant slope differences were found between FM and arthritis patients. Increased attention to mood was associated with increased disability for arthritis patients. Lack of clarity of mood in FM patients was associated with greater anxiety.;Cluster analysis was used to ascertain the existence of subgroups of FM patients. Two clusters were distinct from each other on measures of disability, pain and symptom reporting. High levels of disability, pain and symptom reporting characterized one cluster and low levels of disability, pain and symptom reporting characterized another. Clarity of mood contributed to the distinction between the two clusters.;These results suggest that components of emotional regulation are uniquely associated with psychological distress and disability in FM patients. This study has identified significant differences between diagnostic groups (FM, arthritis and medical controls) regarding the role of attention and clarity to mood and their associations with physical and psychological distress.