Author: Jennifer Todd1, David Plans2, Michael C Lee3, Jonathan M Bird4, Davide Morelli5, Adam Cunningham6, Sonia Ponzo6, Jennifer Murphy7, Geoffrey Bird8, Jane E Aspell9
Affiliation:
1 School of Psychology and Sport Science, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom; Centre for Psychological Medicine, Perdana University, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Electronic address: jennifer.todd@aru.ac.uk.
2 Department of Management, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom; Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
3 Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
4 Department of Management, University of Exeter, Exeter, United Kingdom.
5 Department of Engineering Science, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom.
6 Huma Therapeutics Ltd, London, United Kingdom.
7 Department of Psychology, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham United Kingdom.
8 Department of Experimental Psychology, University of Oxford, Oxford, United Kingdom; School of Psychology, University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom.
9 School of Psychology and Sport Science, Anglia Ruskin University, Cambridge, United Kingdom.
Conference/Journal: Biol Psychol
Date published: 2024 Feb 1
Other:
Pages: 108761 , Special Notes: doi: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2024.108761. , Word Count: 270
Previous research suggests that the processing of internal body sensations (interoception) affects how we experience pain. Some evidence suggests that people with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) - a condition characterised by chronic pain and fatigue - may have altered interoceptive processing. However, extant findings are inconclusive, and some tasks previously used to measure interoception are of questionable validity. Here, we used an alternative measure - the Phase Adjustment Task (PAT) - to examine cardiac interoceptive accuracy in adults with FMS. We examined: (i) the tolerability of the PAT in an FMS sample (N = 154); (ii) if there are differences in facets of interoception (PAT performance, PAT-related confidence, and scores on the Private Body Consciousness Scale) between an FMS sample and an age- and gender-matched pain-free sample (N = 94); and (iii) if subgroups of participants with FMS are identifiable according to interoceptive accuracy levels. We found the PAT was tolerable in the FMS sample, with additional task breaks and a recommended hand posture. The FMS sample were more likely to be classified as 'interoceptive' on the PAT, and had significantly higher self-reported interoception compared to the pain-free sample. Within the FMS sample, we identified a subgroup who demonstrated very strong evidence of being interoceptive, and concurrently had lower fibromyalgia symptom impact (although the effect size was small). Conversely, self-reported interoception was positively correlated with FMS symptom severity and impact. Overall, interoception may be an important factor to consider in understanding and managing FMS symptoms. We recommend future longitudinal work to better understand associations between fluctuating FMS symptoms and interoception.
Keywords: Cardioception; Chronic Pain; Fibromyalgia; Interoception; Phase Adjustment Task; Task Tolerability.
PMID: 38309512 DOI: 10.1016/j.biopsycho.2024.108761
