Reduced Ability to Make Decisions: a Study That Observe Differences in Patients With Fibromyalgia and Healthy Control

Study Overview
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Brief Summary
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The literature has identified impairments in various cognitive functions, including learning, memory, attention, psychomotor speed, executive function, and working memory. However, only a few studies to date have investigated impairment in the decision-making process. The aim of this study is to evaluate decision-making skills in a group of patients with fibromyalgia and compare these results with a group of healthy controls. Specifically, investigators will evaluate four hypotheses: Patients with fibromyalgia may show disadvantageous decision-making in contexts of emotional decision-making and may persevere more in their wrong choices. For this reason, investigators hypothesize that patients with fibromyalgia will more frequently choose the disadvantageous decks than the healthy control group in the Iowa Gambling Task. Secondly, investigators hypothesize that patients with fibromyalgia need more time to make their choice. Consistent with this hypothesis, researchers expect to find significant differences in the average time taken by the participant to make a choice in the Iowa Gambling Task. The third hypothesis is that patients with fibromyalgia may have greater difficulty inhibiting automatic responses, which may lead to longer reaction times in the Stroop task. investigators also hypothesize that stimuli with negative emotional valence (related to the typical pain experience in fibromyalgia) may have a greater effect on patients with fibromyalgia than on healthy controls (longer reaction time in the emotional Stroop Task compared to healthy controls). Finally, investigators hypothesize that anxiety and depression may be related to worse performance in ability-based tasks.

Official Title
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Impaired Decision-making Capacity in Patients Suffering From Fibromyalgia: an Observational Cross-sectional Study

Conditions
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Fibromyalgia

Intervention / Treatment
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* Other: Neuropsychological tasks and self-report questionnaires


Participation Criteria
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Eligibility Criteria
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Inclusion Criteria: Fibromyalgia syndrome (confirmed by a medical diagnosis); Able to understand English or French; Signed an informed consent. Exclusion Criteria: Other diagnoses (osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, post-cancer pain, as well as patients with primary psychiatric/neurological conditions or psychopathological disorders); History of substance abuse or pathological gambling. Not have pain currently or have a recent history of pain (ONLY FOR HEALTY CONTROL GROUP).

Ages Eligible for Study
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Minimum Age: 18 Years

Sexes Eligible for Study
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All

Accepts Healthy Volunteers
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Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Study Plan
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How is the study designed?
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Arms and Interventions

| Participant Group/Arm | Intervention/Treatment |
| --- | --- |
| Patients with fibromyalgia syndrome<br>Patients with fibromyalgia will be recruited at the UZ hospital in Brussels, at the Saint Luc hospital in Brussels, at local patient organisations (e.g. VLFP), at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel and via social media alerts. This syndrome must be confirmed by a medical diagnosis. Patients with other diagnoses will be excluded from this study (e.g., osteoarthritis, rheumatoid arthritis, post-cancer pain, as well as patients with primary psychiatric/neurological conditions or psychopathological disorders). Subjects with a history of substance abuse or pathological gambling will also be excluded. | Other: Neuropsychological tasks and self-report questionnaires<br>* Being a cross-sectional observational study, no intervention will be administered. Subjects will be assessed with neuropsychological tasks and self-report questionnaires.<br>|
| Healthy controls<br>Healthy controls will be recruited through the University of Brussels or through social media alerts. Their exclusion criteria included, in addition to those specified for the fibromyalgia group, those who were suffering from fibromyalgia or had a severe rheumatic illness. Subjects should not have pain currently or have a recent history of pain (within the past 3 months). | Other: Neuropsychological tasks and self-report questionnaires<br>* Being a cross-sectional observational study, no intervention will be administered. Subjects will be assessed with neuropsychological tasks and self-report questionnaires.<br>|

What is the study measuring?
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Primary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Iowa gambling task (IGT) | This task is designed to assess cognitive function in emotional decision-making. It is a computerized decision-making task that involves uncertainty, risk assessment, and the evaluation of both reinforcement and punishment. | Baseline (cross sectional) | 

Secondary Outcome Measures

| Outcome Measure | Measure Description | Time Frame |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Stroop task and Emotional Stroop task | The Stroop test is an instrument for assessing executive functions and aims to measure an individual's ability for selective attention, cognitive flexibility, and inhibition of automatic answers. The Stroop task can also be manipulated to examine how emotional stimuli disrupt colour-naming performance (Emotional Stroop task). | Baseline (cross sectional) | 

 Terms related to the study
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Keywords Provided by Centre Hospitalier Valida
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Fibromyalgia, Decision making, Stroop task, Iowa gambling task