PAIN AND DEPRESSIVE DOMAINS: A MEDIATION STUDY IN PATIENTS WITH AND WITHOUT FIBROMYALGIA

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic musculoskeletal disorder characterized by widespread pain and a high comorbidity with depression, anxiety, sleep disturbances, fatigue, and cognitive dysfunction. While prior research has demonstrated associations between depression, FM, and pain severity, there is little research examining how pain influences specific symptoms of depression. The current study tested whether pain mediated the relationship between FM status and depressive symptoms measured by the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II). Participants included adults aged 50 or older with and without FM. Four separate mediation analyses were conducted in RStudio to test the mediating effect of pain on affective, cognitive, somatic, and total BDI-II scores based on a validated bifactor model of the BDI-II. Age, gender, and education were used as covariates. Results indicated that individuals with FM reported significantly higher depression and pain scores than individuals without FM. Pain partially mediated the relationship between FM status and all BDI-II subscales; however, mediation effects did not differ significantly across subscales. Findings suggest that pain plays a partial but important role in explaining the differences in depression between individuals with and without FM. These findings emphasize the importance of integrated treatment approaches targeting both pain and depression.