Project: Quality of life, cognitive performance, emotional regulation and psychophysiological processes in fibromyalgia
Cooperation partner: University of Jaén, Spain (G.A. Reyes del Paso, C.I. Montoro Aguilar, C.M. Galvez Sánchez)
Support: Ministry of Science and Innovation, Spain
Fibromyalgia is a chronic condition of widespread pain accompanied by symptoms like fatigue, sleep disturbance, depression, and concentration difficulties. The prevalence of fibromyalgia is estimated at 2–4 % in the
general population, where women are more frequently affected than men. Fibromyalgia symptoms substantially reduce quality of life, cause severe impairments in psychosocial functioning and lead to significant socioeconomical burdens. Sensitization of central nervous nociceptive pathways and deficient pain-inhibiting mechanisms are believed to play a key role in the pathogenesis of fibromyalgia. Psychological factors (deficits in emotional regulation, dysfunctional cognitive schemes) and dysregulation of the autonomic nervous system may also be involved. By implementing a comprehensive research approach, this project investigates health-related quality of life,
cognitive performance, emotional regulation, and psychophysiological processes (central nervous pain processing and autonomic control) in individuals with fibromyalgia. Research methods include self-report questionnaires,
cognitive tests, psychophysiological techniques (e.g., functional transcranial Doppler sonography, electrocardiography and impedance cardiography) and computer-based algesimetry. Students, as well as doctoral and post-doctoral researchers, at UMIT TIROL and the University of Jaén are involved
in the project. The cooperation and regular travel between both sites by project members is supported by an ERASMUS+ agreement between both universities.
Previous publications from the project
Duschek, S., Muñoz Ladrón de Guevara, C., Fernández Serrano, M.J., Montoro, C.I., Pelegrina López, S., & Reyes
del Paso, G.A. (2022). Variability of Reaction Time as a Marker of Executive Function Impairments in Fibromyalgia.
Behavioral Neurology, in press. doi: 10.1155/2022/1821684
Galvez Sánchez, C.M., Reyes del Paso, G.A., Duschek, S., & Montoro Aguilar, C.I. (2022). The link between Fibromyalgia
Syndrome and Anger: A Systematic review revealing research gaps. Journal of Clinical Medicine,
11(3), 844. doi: 10.3390/jcm11030844
Galvez-Sánchez, C.M., Duschek, S. & Reyes del Paso, G.A. (2022). Is reduced health-related quality of life a primary
manifestation of fibromyalgia? A comparison study with rheumatoid arthritis. Psychology & Health, in
press. doi: 10.1080/08870446.2022.2085705
Galvez-Sánchez, C.M., de la Coba, P., Duschek, S., & Reyes del Paso, G.A. (2020). Reliability, factor structure and
predictive validity of the Widespread Pain Index and Symptom Severity scales of the 2010 American College of
Rheumatology criteria of fibromyalgia. Journal of Clinical Medicine, 9, 2460. doi: 10.3390/jcm9082460
Galvez-Sánchez, C.M., de la Coba, P., Duschek, S., & Reyes del Paso, G.A. (2020). Fibromyalgia Symptoms Overview.
Scholarly Community Encyclopedia [online version], https://encyclopedia.pub, pp. 1-16, Entry ID: 2538,
Category: Clinical Psychology. https://doi.org/10.32545/encyclopedia202009.0002.v2, Basel: MDPI AG, ISSN:
2309-3366.
Galvez-Sánchez, C.M., Montoro, C., Reyes del Paso, G.A., & Duschek, S. (2020). Depression and trait-anxiety
mediate the influence of clinical pain on health-related quality in fibromyalgia. Journal of Affective Disorders,
265, 486-495. doi: 10.1016/j.jad.2020.01.129
Galvez-Sánchez, C.M., Montoro, C.I., Duschek, S., & Reyes del Paso, G.A. (2020). Pain catastrophizing mediates
the negative influence of pain and trait-anxiety on health-related quality of life in fibromyalgia. Quality of Life
Research, 29, 1871-1881. doi: 10.1007/s11136-020-02457-x
Galvez-Sánchez, C.M., Duschek, S., & Reyes del Paso, G.A. (2019). Psychological impact of fibromyalgia: current
perspectives. Psychology Research and Behavior Management, 12, 117-127. doi: 10.2147/PRBM.S178240
Galvez-Sánchez, C.M., Muñoz Ladrón de Guevara, C., Montoro, C.I., Duschek, S., & Reyes del Paso, G.A. (2018).
Cognitive deficits in fibromyalgia syndrome are associated with pain responses to low intensity pressure stimulation.
PLOS ONE 13(8): e0201488. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0201488
Galvez-Sánchez, C.M. Reyes del Paso, G.A., & Duschek, S. (2018). Cognitive impairments in fibromyalgia syndrome:
Associations with positive and negative affect, alexithymia, pain catastrophizing and self-esteem. Frontiers
in Psychology, 9:377. doi: 10.3389/fpsyg.2018.00377
Montoro, C., Duschek, S. & Reyes del Paso, G.A. (2018). An exploratory analysis of the influence of personality
and emotional factors on cerebral blood flow responses during painful stimulation in fibromyalgia. Scandinavian
Journal of Psychology, 59, 301-310. doi: 10.1111/sjop.12434
Montoro, C.I., Duschek, S. & Reyes del Paso, G.A. (2018). Cerebral blood flow variability in fibromyalgia syndrome:
Relationships with emotional, clinical and functional variables. PLOS ONE 13(9): e0204267. doi:
10.1371/journal.pone.0204267
Muñoz Ladrón de Guevara, C., Fernández-Serrano, J., Reyes del Paso, G.A. & Duschek, S. (2018). Executive function
impairments in fibromyalgia syndrome: Relevance of clinical variables and body mass index. PLOS ONE,
13(4):e0196329. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0196329
Muñoz Ladrón de Guevara, C., Reyes del Paso, G.A., Fernández-Serrano, M.J., & Duschek, S. (2021). Facial Emotion
Recognition and Executive Functions in Fibromyalgia Syndrome. Pain Medicine, 22, 1619-1626. doi:
10.1093/pm/pnab024
Reyes del Paso, G.A. Contreras-Merino, A.M. & Duschek, S. (2022). The Relevance of Depressive Disorders in
Autonomic Cardiovascular Dysregulations in Fibromyalgia Syndrome. Psychosomatic Medicine, in press. doi:
10.1097/PSY.0000000000001097
Reyes del Paso, G.A., Contreras-Merino, A., de la Coba, P., & Duschek, S. (2021). The Cardiac, Vasomotor and
Myocardial Branches of the Baroreflex in Fibromyalgia: Associations with Pain, Affective Impairments, Sleep
Problems and Fatigue. Psychophysiology, 58, e13800. doi: 10.1111/psyp.13800
Reyes del Paso, G.A., Duschek, S., Contreras-Merino, A.M., & Davydov, D.M. (2024). Long-term Stress Exposure,
Cortisol Level and Cardiovascular Activity and Reactivity: Observations in Patients with Fibromyalgia. Psychophysiology,
61, e14649. doi: 10.1111/psyp.14649