Adherence of patients with fibromyalgia to non-pharmacological treatment: a cross-sectional study
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.55892/jrg.v9i20.3173Keywords:
fibromyalgia, chronic pain, patient compliance, complementary therapies, drug therapyAbstract
Fibromyalgia is a chronic centralized pain syndrome characterized by disordered processing of painful stimuli. The present study aims to evaluate adherence of patients with fibromyalgia to non-pharmacological treatment (physical exercise, psychological follow-up, religion, balanced diet, and leisure activities) and to identify factors that favor or hinder such adherence. This is an observational cross-sectional study. Data collection was performed using an electronic questionnaire, and exploratory data analysis was conducted through the calculation of simple frequencies and percentages, with inferential analysis using Chi-square and Fisher’s Exact tests (R 4.4.0), adopting a significance level of 5% for all hypothesis tests. The final sample consisted of 32 volunteers, with a predominance of females. There was a correlation between the practice of physical exercise, follow-up with other healthcare professionals (p-value=0.013), and difficulty in following recommendations provided by these professionals (p-value=0.030). Furthermore, the number of non-pharmacological treatments performed was associated with the presence or absence of difficulty in following healthcare recommendations (p-value=0.02). Good adherence to non-pharmacological treatment was observed, with follow-up by other healthcare professionals and difficulty in following recommendations identified as significant factors influencing adherence rates. Therefore, non-pharmacological treatment, together with multidisciplinary team care, is essential to improve adherence among patients with fibromyalgia.
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