The Role of Environmental Distractions in the Experience of Fibrofog in Real‐World Settings
Objective Perceived cognitive dysfunction in people with fibromyalgia (FM), “fibrofog,” is commonly reported and has been demonstrated in neurocognitive testing. Distractibility and inattention have been implicated as potential contributors to fibrofog, but the role of environmental distractions has...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Wiley
2020-04-01
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| Series: | ACR Open Rheumatology |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1002/acr2.11130 |
| _version_ | 1818292675059646464 |
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| author | Anna L. Kratz Daniel Whibley Samsuk Kim David A. Williams Daniel J. Clauw Martin Sliwinski |
| author_facet | Anna L. Kratz Daniel Whibley Samsuk Kim David A. Williams Daniel J. Clauw Martin Sliwinski |
| author_sort | Anna L. Kratz |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Objective Perceived cognitive dysfunction in people with fibromyalgia (FM), “fibrofog,” is commonly reported and has been demonstrated in neurocognitive testing. Distractibility and inattention have been implicated as potential contributors to fibrofog, but the role of environmental distractions has not been explored. In this study, ambulatory assessment methods were used to examine whether FM is related to more environmental distractions and to examine the impact of distractions on subjective and objective cognitive functioning. Methods Fifty people with FM and 50 age‐, sex‐, and education‐matched controls without FM completed 8 consecutive days of ambulatory assessments. Five times per day, participants reported perceived cognitive functioning and environmental distractions and completed validated tests of processing speed and working memory. Results The FM group reported distractions in a higher proportion of the ambulatory cognitive testing sessions (40.5%) compared with the group without FM (29.8%; P < 0.001) and more often reported multiple simultaneous distractions. For both groups, sound was the most common distraction. The group with FM reported more distractions caused by light, and the group without FM reported more social distractions. Group differences in subjective and objective cognitive functioning were not augmented during distraction relative to during periods of no distraction. There were no group differences in within‐person changes in cognitive functioning as a function of distraction. Conclusion The group with FM reported more distractions than the group without FM; both groups reported poorer processing speed when distracted, and the effects of distraction on test performance did not differ significantly by group. Findings suggest that sensitivity to environmental distractions may play a role in the experience of cognitive dysfunction in FM. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-13T03:03:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-107a8bae81804155a77ea955fc527b66 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2578-5745 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-13T03:03:43Z |
| publishDate | 2020-04-01 |
| publisher | Wiley |
| record_format | Article |
| series | ACR Open Rheumatology |
| spelling | doaj.art-107a8bae81804155a77ea955fc527b662022-12-22T00:01:46ZengWileyACR Open Rheumatology2578-57452020-04-012421422110.1002/acr2.11130The Role of Environmental Distractions in the Experience of Fibrofog in Real‐World SettingsAnna L. Kratz0Daniel Whibley1Samsuk Kim2David A. Williams3Daniel J. Clauw4Martin Sliwinski5University of Michigan Ann ArborUniversity of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and School of Medicine, Medical Sciences, and Nutrition, University of Aberdeen Aberdeen United KingdomUniversity of Detroit Mercy Detroit MichiganUniversity of Michigan Ann ArborUniversity of Michigan Ann ArborPennsylvania State University University Park PennsylvaniaObjective Perceived cognitive dysfunction in people with fibromyalgia (FM), “fibrofog,” is commonly reported and has been demonstrated in neurocognitive testing. Distractibility and inattention have been implicated as potential contributors to fibrofog, but the role of environmental distractions has not been explored. In this study, ambulatory assessment methods were used to examine whether FM is related to more environmental distractions and to examine the impact of distractions on subjective and objective cognitive functioning. Methods Fifty people with FM and 50 age‐, sex‐, and education‐matched controls without FM completed 8 consecutive days of ambulatory assessments. Five times per day, participants reported perceived cognitive functioning and environmental distractions and completed validated tests of processing speed and working memory. Results The FM group reported distractions in a higher proportion of the ambulatory cognitive testing sessions (40.5%) compared with the group without FM (29.8%; P < 0.001) and more often reported multiple simultaneous distractions. For both groups, sound was the most common distraction. The group with FM reported more distractions caused by light, and the group without FM reported more social distractions. Group differences in subjective and objective cognitive functioning were not augmented during distraction relative to during periods of no distraction. There were no group differences in within‐person changes in cognitive functioning as a function of distraction. Conclusion The group with FM reported more distractions than the group without FM; both groups reported poorer processing speed when distracted, and the effects of distraction on test performance did not differ significantly by group. Findings suggest that sensitivity to environmental distractions may play a role in the experience of cognitive dysfunction in FM.https://doi.org/10.1002/acr2.11130 |
| spellingShingle | Anna L. Kratz Daniel Whibley Samsuk Kim David A. Williams Daniel J. Clauw Martin Sliwinski The Role of Environmental Distractions in the Experience of Fibrofog in Real‐World Settings ACR Open Rheumatology |
| title | The Role of Environmental Distractions in the Experience of Fibrofog in Real‐World Settings |
| title_full | The Role of Environmental Distractions in the Experience of Fibrofog in Real‐World Settings |
| title_fullStr | The Role of Environmental Distractions in the Experience of Fibrofog in Real‐World Settings |
| title_full_unstemmed | The Role of Environmental Distractions in the Experience of Fibrofog in Real‐World Settings |
| title_short | The Role of Environmental Distractions in the Experience of Fibrofog in Real‐World Settings |
| title_sort | role of environmental distractions in the experience of fibrofog in real world settings |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1002/acr2.11130 |
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