S-20
1
Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation
Department,
2
Psychiatry Department,
and
3
Urology Department, Faculty of
Medicine, Suleyman Demirel University,
Isparta, Turkey.
Mahmut Yener, MD, Assist. Prof.
Ayhan Askin, MD
Feray Soyupek, MD, Assoc. Prof.
Abdullah Akpinar, MD, Assist. Prof.
Arif Demirdas, MD, Assist. Prof.
Selma Sonmez,
Sedat Soyupek, MD, Assoc. Prof.
Please address correspondence to:
Mahmut Yener, MD,
Suleyman Demirel Universitesi
Arastirma ve Uygulama,
Hastanesi Fizik Tedavi ve
Rehabilitasyon Bolumu,
Dogu Kampusu,
32260 Isparta, Turkey.
E-mail: bahtiyaryener@yahoo.com
Received on June 3, 2013; accepted in
revised form on February 4, 2014.
Clin Exp Rheumatol 2015; 33 (Suppl. 88):
S20-S24.
© Copyright CliniCal and
ExpErimEntal rhEumatology 2015.
Key words: fbromyalgia, depression,
anxiety, sexual dysfunction, spouses
Competing interests: none declared.
ABSTRACT
Objective. Fibromyalgia (FM) can
cause neuropsychiatric symptoms and
sexual dysfunction. However, no data
exist regarding anxiety and depres-
sion status in spouses of sexually ac-
tive women with FM. Accordingly, we
aimed to evaluate whether emotional
status are affected in spouses of women
with FM, and to search whether there
was a relationship between sexual dys-
function of women with FM and emo-
tional status of their spouses.
Methods. Thirty newly diagnosed,
never treated reproductive women with
FM and 30 age-matched healthy wom-
en as well as their spouses were includ-
ed. Psychological status was evaluated
using Beck depression/anxiety inven-
tory (BDI/BAI). Sexual function was
evaluated using Female Sexual Func-
tion Index (FSFI) and Index of Female
Sexual Function (IFSF).
Results. BDI, BAI, FSFI and IFSF
scores were signifcantly higher in
women with FM than in controls. The
spouses of women with FM had in-
creased BDI and BAI scores as com-
pared to spouses of controls (7.10±7.76
vs. 2.10±2.68, 6.96±6.62 vs. 2.20±3.16,
respectively, p<0.001). BDI scores of
women with FM signifcantly correlated
to BDI scores of their spouses, but there
was no signifcant relationship between
BDI scores of spouses and sexual func-
tions of women with FM.
Conclusion. FM can cause deteriora-
tion of emotional status and lead to
sexual dysfunction. Also, psychologi-
cal status could be affected in spouses
of women with FM at reproductive age,
and the severity of depression of their
spouses was signifcantly correlated
to that of women with FM. However,
this affection in psychological status
did not relate to sexual problems of the
women with FM.
Introduction
Fibromyalgia (FM), one of the most
common chronic musculoskeletal pain
disorders, is defned as presence of
chronic (for 3 months or more) wide-
spread pain and pain on palpation
of at least 11 of 18 tender point sites
throughout the body (1-3). In addition,
several additional symptoms have been
reported in patients with FM such as
fatigue, sleep disruption, anxiety and
depression, headache, and concentra-
tion problems (1-4). Moreover, func-
tional disability can occur and quality
of life (QOL) can be impaired in those
patients (1, 2, 5).
The prevalence of FM is higher in
women and previous studies have
shown that there is a strong association
between FM and sexual dysfunction in
women (6-10). The patients with FM
can decrease frequency of sex activity
due to the onset of chronic pain, physi-
cal limitations, fatigue, and loss of sex-
ual satisfaction (11). In addition, most
patients can experience a decline in
their sexual activities, and consequent-
ly a cessation of their sex life (10).
Moreover, it has been reported that as
high as two thirds of married patients
with FM have a decline in sexual ac-
tivities and 30% of them report deterio-
ration of the marital relationship (12).
Although substantial data exists that
FM leads to many symptoms related
to musculoskeletal system, depression
and anxiety, impairment of QOL, and
sexual dysfunction resulting in deterio-
ration of the marital relationship, there
has been no data regarding anxiety and
depression status in spouses of sexu-
ally active women with FM. Accord-
ingly, in the present study, we aimed to
evaluate whether emotional status are
affected in spouses of sexually active
women with FM during reproductive
age, and to search whether there was
The evaluation of anxiety and depression status in spouses of
sexually active reproductive women with fbromyalgia
M. Yener
1
, A. Askin
1
, F. Soyupek
1
, A. Akpinar
2
, A. Demirdas
2
,
S. Sonmez
3
, S. Soyupek
3