A retrospective observational study .. somatosensory amplification in [FM], chronic pain, psychiatric disorders & healthy subjects, 2020, Ciaramella

[Andy]

Full title: A retrospective observational study comparing somatosensory amplification in fibromyalgia, chronic pain, psychiatric disorders and healthy subjects

Objectives
Somatosensory amplification (SA) has been described as an important feature of somatoform disorders, and an “amplifying somatic style” has been reported as a negative connotation of body perception. As widespread pain (WSP) in fibromyalgia (FM) is due to a central sensitization (CS) rather than organic alterations, there has been discussion as to whether FM is equivalent to or distinct from somatization disorder (SD). Assuming SD and FM are two distinct entities, an increase in somatic amplification should be expected only in subjects who have SD, regardless of the type of pain they experience. Purpose of the study was to explore the magnitude of SA in FM, and whether this depends on the association with SD.

Methods
FM (n=159) other forms of chronic pain (OCP, n=582), psychiatric (Psy, n=53) and healthy (H, n=55) subjects were investigated using the Somatosensory Amplification Scale (SSAS), Illness Behavior Questionnaire, (IBQ), Italian Pain Questionnaire (IPQ), and Cold Pressor Test (CPT) in a retrospective observational study.

Results
FM subjects displayed higher SSAS scores than the other groups. High SSAS score was associated with FM (OR=8.39; 95%CI: 5.43–12.46) but not OCP. Although FM has the highest prevalence of SD (x2=14.07; p=.007), high SSAS scores were associated with SD in OCP but not in FM.

Conclusions
Unlike in OCP, in FM high SSAS scores were independent of the presence of SD. From a biopsychosocial perspective, SSAS may be a factor associated with the onset of FM.

Paywall, https://www.degruyter.com/view/jour...020-0103/article-10.1515-sjpain-2020-0103.xml
Sci hub, no access

 

[Sean]

Somatosensory amplification (SA) has been described as an important feature of somatoform disorders, and an “amplifying somatic style” has been reported as a negative connotation of body perception.

Gotta admit, they are experts at bootstrapping.

 

[rvallee]

This wouldn't even get a pass grade in high school. There are multiple layers of assumptions all built on one another. Most B movie plots are more consistent than this.

As widespread pain (WSP) in fibromyalgia (FM) is due to a central sensitization (CS) rather than organic alterations

I see that peer review is now a mere theatrical performance. Why even bother at this point? Just publish the conclusions alone with nothing else to support it, it clearly makes no difference.

The combination of obsessive overreliance on questionnaires and a pathological inability to reliably ask relevant questions is, unsurprisingly, very bad. I don't know if it's a sampling issue but about 99% of all research in this field is completely inept. It isn't just a large number, it's an overwhelming proportion.

 

[ME/CFS Skeptic]

FM high SSAS scores were independent of the presence of SD

That suggests the SSAS isn't measuring what the name suggests it should be measuring.

Does anyone have a link to the questionnaire?

 

[rvallee]

That suggests the SSAS isn't measuring what the name suggests it should be measuring.

Does anyone have a link to the questionnaire?

It appears even more ridiculous than I feared: https://bpsmedicine.biomedcentral.com/track/pdf/10.1186/1751-0759-1-17.

It is a 10-item self-report questionnaire, and the respondents rate the degree to which each statement is ''characteristic of you in general,'' on an ordinal scale of 1 to 5. A higher total score indicates greater symptom amplification (score range of 10 to 50).

The statements:

1. When someone else coughs, it makes me cough too.
2. I can't stand smoke, smog, or pollutants in the air.
3. I am often aware of various things happening within my body.
4. When I bruise myself, it stays noticeable for a long time.
5. Sudden loud noises really bother me.
6. I can sometimes hear my pulse or my heartbeat throbbing in my ear.
7. I hate to be too hot or too cold.
8. I am quick to sense the hunger contractions in my stomach.
9. Even something minor, like an insect bite or a splinter, really bothers me.
10. I have a low tolerance for pain.

There is more interpretation to those statements than a typical art history class, or an interpretive dance recital. They are completely ambiguous and could be rated in so many ways. It's hard to reconcile that this junk is taken seriously.

I guess this is one way to turn the ink blot test into a questionnaire form.

 

[rvallee]

SSAS scores over 30 may reflect a highly somatizing condition; the average SSAS scores were 24–29 in groups of university students[14], office workers[15], and outpatients visiting a general internal medicine clinic [10] whereas it was 32 in the patients visiting a psychosomatic clinic[10]

What a joke. Literally 2 points separating typical and "high somatization" on a 50 point scale.

Basically this is rated like a shower water temperature knob, all the sensitivity is located in a narrow middle band.

Crisis of validity. This is not a problem of replicability. This is absurdly invalid. This whole field is a sick joke.

 

[NelliePledge]

Ooh yes those various things happening within in the body can be very debilitating

 

[Amw66]

What in earth happens to medics when they train as psychiatrists?