Balneoterapinin fibromiyalji hastalarında ağrı ve yaşam kalitesine etkisi

Aim: The aim of this study was to investigate effect of balneotherapy (BT) on pain and quality of life in patients with fibromyalgia (FMS). Material and Methods: The study included 98 women without known metabolic or psychiatric disorder and history of new medication within prior month who were diagnosed as primary fibromyalgia according to 2010 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria and accepted to participate to the study. The sociodemographic characteristics were recorded for all patients. All patients received 21 consecutive sessions of balneotherapy (20 minutes per day). The patients were assessed by Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) and Visual Analog Scale (VAS) before and after therapy. Results: The mean age of the all patients was 53.04 ± 10.3 years, the mean body mass index was 29.06 ± 5.9 kg/m2, and the mean disease duration was 54.91 ± 59.5 months. In patients with FMS, there were significant differences between VAS and FIQ scores assessed before and after BT (p=0.01). Also, the extent of decrease in FIQ score was greater in non-smokers than smoker FM patients (p<0.05). Conclusion: In patients with FM, there was a significant difference in VAS scores following BT. Moreover, there was also a significant difference in FIQ scores. However, the improvement in quality of life after BT was greater in non-smoker FM patients when compared to smoker FM patient