Dropout of a multidisciplinary treatment program for women with fibromyalgia

Abstract

Objective: To evaluate the dropout of a multidisciplinary treatment program in fibromyalgia (FM). Methods: An observational study conducted during the period of April 2000 to December 2005, including 133 women with fibromyalgia, participating in a multidisciplinary treatment program. Those who had left the treatment for two weeks or more were classified as inactive and contacted by telephone to record the reasons for their noncompliance, which were divided into four groups: 1) Family; 2) Occupations; 3) Medical; 4) Other Reasons. Results: When collecting data, 92 (69.4%) women were considered inactive. There was no significant difference between noncompliance before and after six months of treatment. Of the total number of inactive women, 54 (40.8%) participants left for medical reasons, 30 (22.6%) for other reasons, 26 (19.4%) for family reasons and 23 (17.2%) due to occupation. There was no statistical difference between the motives of dropout according to the length of stay in the program (p> 0.05). Conclusion: We conclude that the multidisciplinary program for women with fibromyalgia had high levels of noncompliance, half of them occurred in the first six months. Among the main reasons reported for dropout, the medical reasons were more frequent.