Table 1.
Demographic features.
| Characteristic | Participants (n = 18) |
|---|---|
| Age (mean & standard deviation, SD) | 54.7 ± 15.5 |
| Gender (n) | |
| Female | 15 |
| Male | 3 |
| Educational level (n) | |
| Primary school | 6 |
| Upper secondary school or vocational school | 11 |
| University or polytechnic | 1 |
| Employment status (n) | |
| Engaged in working life (full- or part-time) | 5 |
| Unemployed | 2 |
| Unable to work (absence due to illness or disability pension) | 9 |
| Old-age pension | 2 |
| FM severity: PSDa score (mean & SD) | 22.5 ± 4.0 |
| Years with FMb (mean & SD) | 13.8 ± 9.9 |
| FM diagnosis set in (n) | |
| Primary health care | 6 |
| Secondary health care | 12 |
| Number of other diagnoses (mean & SD) | 1.8 ± 1.2 |
| Regular medication (n) | |
| Yes | 9 |
| No | 9 |
| Number of GP visits last year (mean & SD) | 3.5 ± 2.0 |
aThe PSD score is derived from the American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2010 diagnostic criteria as the widespread pain index and symptom severity scale are combined into one index ranging from 0 to 31. A patient who fills the ACR2010 criteria for FM will always have at least 12 points from the PSD score. The PSD score is strongly related to somatic symptom severity [29].
bThe time since the FM diagnosis ranged from 2 to 32 years.