Therapeutic Patient Education for Fibromyalgia during Spa Therapy: The FiETT Randomized Controlled Trial

Philippe Ducamp, Patrick Sichère, Hermine Gayum, Karine Dubourg, Christian-François Roques and Valérie Journot
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Philippe Ducamp: Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine Department, Orthez Hospital, 64300 Orthez, France
Patrick Sichère: Rheumatology Department, Delafontaine Hospital, 93200 Saint-Denis, France
Hermine Gayum: ISPED School of Public Health, Bordeaux University, 33000 Bordeaux, France
Karine Dubourg: Balneology Institute, Bordeaux University, 40100 Dax, France
Christian-François Roques: Physical & Rehabilitation Medicine Department, Toulouse III Paul Sabatier University, 31062 Toulouse, France
Valérie Journot: Bordeaux Population Health, INSERM, 33000 Bordeaux, France

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 8, 1-17

Abstract: Spa therapy is known to improve quality of life and diminish pain. We assessed the efficacy (Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire-FIQ) and safety at 6 months of a fibromyalgia-specific therapeutic patient education (TPE) program added to fibromyalgia-specific standardized spa therapy (SST), compared to SST alone, in a controlled randomized trial. We enrolled 157 patients, mostly women, attending spa centers in Southwest France in 2015–2016, and randomized them to SST + TPE (79) or SST (78). The intention-to-treat with “missing as failure” analysis showed a tendency toward a higher, though non-significant, benefit with TPE than without for FIQ (−9 vs. −3; p = 0.053) or pain intensity (−0.9 vs. −1.1; p = 0.58). In addition, pain relief (+3.2 vs. +4.3; p = 0.03) and fatigue (−1.6 vs. −3.7; p = 0.02) were significantly improved, and 87% patients in the SST + TPE arm still regularly practiced the physical exercises taught to them at 6 months. We suspect significant and lasting improvement from spa therapy, as well as our already well-informed and well-managed participants, to have prevented the demonstration of a significant benefit of TPE on FIQ.

Keywords: fibromyalgia; spa therapy; therapeutic patient education; fibromyalgia impact questionnaire; randomized trial (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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