BioMed Research International· 2020
The Impact of Auricular Vagus Nerve Stimulation on Pain and Life Quality in Patients with Fibromyalgia Syndrome
- 62citations
- 2020year
Short summary
Adding auricular vagus nerve stimulation (aVNS) to an exercise program did not significantly improve pain or quality of life in fibromyalgia patients compared to exercise alone, except for minor gains in physical function, social function, and pain sub-scores on the SF-36.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Key points
- 60 female fibromyalgia patients were randomized into two groups: exercise alone or exercise plus auricular vagus nerve stimulation (aVNS).
- Both groups showed significant improvements in pain, depression, anxiety, functionality, and life quality after 20 sessions.
- The group receiving aVNS alongside exercise did not demonstrate statistically significant improvements over the exercise-only group in most measured outcomes.
- Minor, non-statistically significant improvements were observed in the SF-36 sub-parameters of physical function, social function, and pain for the aVNS group.
AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.
Abstract
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.
The authors' abstract, as published at the source. BioMed Research International, 2020 · DOI ↗
Continue with a free account
Ask the paper: 3 free questions a day about this paper; save it, get its citation, new summaries every day for your field. Takeaways are Premium.
Continue free on the webSign in with Google or Apple; no card needed. You come back to this paper.
On your phone:
Field: Neurology (Neuroscience)
NeurologyNeuroscience