The Impact of Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Pain and Life Quality in Patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome

Joint Authors

Kutlu, Nazlı
Özden, Ali Veysel
Alptekin, Hasan Kerem
Alptekin, Jülide Öncü

Source

BioMed Research International

Issue

Vol. 2020, Issue 2020 (31 Dec. 2020), pp.1-10, 10 p.

Publisher

Hindawi Publishing Corporation

Publication Date

2020-03-02

Country of Publication

Egypt

No. of Pages

10

Main Subjects

Medicine

Abstract EN

The purpose of this study is to evaluate the impact of auricular vagus nerve stimulation, applied in conjunction with an exercise treatment program, on pain and life quality in patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS).

To achieve the study objectives, 60 female patients between the ages 18 and 50, with diagnosed FMS according to the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2010 diagnostic criteria, were randomly divided into 2 groups of 30.

The first group was assigned 20 sessions of a home-based exercise program, while the second group was assigned 20 sessions of auricular vagus nerve stimulation and 20 sessions of a home-based exercise program.

Patients were assessed before and after the treatments using the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) for pain, Beck Depression Scale for depression, Beck Anxiety Scale for anxiety, Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ) for functional evaluation, and Short Form-36 (SF-36) for life quality.

In this randomized controlled trial, comparisons within the groups revealed that both groups had statistically significant improvements in pain, depression, anxiety, functionality, and life quality scores (p<0.05), while comparisons across the groups revealed that the group experiencing the vagus nerve stimulation had no statistically significant differences between the baseline scores, except for those of SF-36’s subparameters of physical function, social functionality, and pain.

In fact, comparisons across the groups after the interventions revealed that the group experiencing the vagus nerve stimulation had better scores but not statistically significant.

From analysis of this data, we observed that vagus nerve stimulation in FMS treatment did not give additional benefit together with exercise, except for three subparameters of SF-36.

It was identified that further studies which separately investigate the effects of vagus nerve stimulation and exercise on FMS with longer follow-up periods and an increased number of patients are needed.

American Psychological Association (APA)

Kutlu, Nazlı& Özden, Ali Veysel& Alptekin, Hasan Kerem& Alptekin, Jülide Öncü. 2020. The Impact of Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Pain and Life Quality in Patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome. BioMed Research International،Vol. 2020, no. 2020, pp.1-10.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1137578

Modern Language Association (MLA)

Kutlu, Nazlı…[et al.]. The Impact of Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Pain and Life Quality in Patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome. BioMed Research International No. 2020 (2020), pp.1-10.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1137578

American Medical Association (AMA)

Kutlu, Nazlı& Özden, Ali Veysel& Alptekin, Hasan Kerem& Alptekin, Jülide Öncü. The Impact of Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Pain and Life Quality in Patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome. BioMed Research International. 2020. Vol. 2020, no. 2020, pp.1-10.
https://search.emarefa.net/detail/BIM-1137578

Data Type

Journal Articles

Language

English

Notes

Includes bibliographical references

Record ID

BIM-1137578