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Oxford University Press, Pain Medicine, 11(23), p. 1837-1850, 2022

DOI: 10.1093/pm/pnac077

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Effectiveness of Pain Neuroscience Education in Patients with Fibromyalgia: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis

This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.
This paper was not found in any repository, but could be made available legally by the author.

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Abstract

Abstract Purpose To assess the effects of pain neuroscience education (PNE) on patients with fibromyalgia in terms of pain intensity, fibromyalgia impact, anxiety, and pain catastrophizing. Methods A systematic review with meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials was conducted. Standardized mean differences (SMDs) and 95% confidence intervals (CIs) were calculated with RStudio software (RStudio, Boston, MA) for relevant outcomes and were pooled in a meta-analysis with the random effects model. Results A total of eight studies were included. The meta-analysis showed statistically significant differences in pain intensity with a moderate clinical effect in seven studies at the post-intervention assessment (SMD: –0.76; 95% CI: –1.33 to –0.19; P < 0.05) with evidence of significant heterogeneity (P < 0.05, I2 = 92%), but it did not show statistically significant differences in fibromyalgia impact, anxiety, and pain catastrophizing (P > 0.05). With regard to the follow-up assessment, only the fibromyalgia impact showed significant improvements, with a very small clinical effect in nine studies (SMD: –0.44; 95% CI: –0.73 to –0.14; P < 0.05) and evidence of significant heterogeneity (P < 0.05, I2 = 80%). After the application of a sensitivity analysis with the PNE face-to-face interventions, the meta-analysis showed a significant decrease in pain intensity, with a moderate clinical effect at the post-intervention and follow-up assessments without evidence of significant heterogeneity (P < 0.05, I2 = 10%). Conclusions There is low-quality evidence that in patients with fibromyalgia, PNE can decrease the pain intensity in the post-intervention period and the fibromyalgia impact in the follow-up period. However, it appears that PNE showed no effect on anxiety and pain catastrophizing.