TY - GEN
T1 - Statistical Analysis of the Effect of Pulsed Electromagnetic Field on Pain-Related Outcomes in Patients with Fibromyalgia
AU - Abdildin, Yerkin
AU - Sultangazin, Suienish
AU - Viderman, Dmitriy
N1 - Publisher Copyright:
© 2024 IEEE.
PY - 2024
Y1 - 2024
N2 - This paper studies the effect of a pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) in managing fibromyalgia patients, that is, patients with chronic pain disorder. We conducted a statistical analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing two groups of patients, the treatment group (PEMF) and the control group. We found significant improvement in pain intensity (mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) is -21.16 [-31.71, -10.61], p-value < 0.0001), fibromyalgia intensity (MD with 95% CI is -12.25 [-20.84, -3.66], p-value = 0.005), and anxiety (MD with 95% CI is -12.02 [-17.38, -6.65], p-value < 0.0001) in PEMF group after treatment. These three medical outcomes were measured on a 0-100 scale and our results were based on six RCTs with 813 patients. Because our meta-analysis is based only on RCTs, it provides the highest level of evidence and should be useful for decision making. However, the considerable heterogeneity among the studies in pain intensity and fibromyalgia intensity implies that the PEMF may not be effective in some populations. Overall, PEMF has a positive effect on patients with fibromyalgia, but more RCTs are recommended in the future to study its impact in detail.
AB - This paper studies the effect of a pulsed electromagnetic field (PEMF) in managing fibromyalgia patients, that is, patients with chronic pain disorder. We conducted a statistical analysis of randomized controlled trials (RCTs) comparing two groups of patients, the treatment group (PEMF) and the control group. We found significant improvement in pain intensity (mean difference (MD) with 95% confidence interval (CI) is -21.16 [-31.71, -10.61], p-value < 0.0001), fibromyalgia intensity (MD with 95% CI is -12.25 [-20.84, -3.66], p-value = 0.005), and anxiety (MD with 95% CI is -12.02 [-17.38, -6.65], p-value < 0.0001) in PEMF group after treatment. These three medical outcomes were measured on a 0-100 scale and our results were based on six RCTs with 813 patients. Because our meta-analysis is based only on RCTs, it provides the highest level of evidence and should be useful for decision making. However, the considerable heterogeneity among the studies in pain intensity and fibromyalgia intensity implies that the PEMF may not be effective in some populations. Overall, PEMF has a positive effect on patients with fibromyalgia, but more RCTs are recommended in the future to study its impact in detail.
KW - control group
KW - decision making in medicine
KW - evidence-based medicine
KW - fibromyalgia intensity questionnaire
KW - intervention group
KW - laser
KW - meta-analysis
KW - pulsed electromagnetic field therapy
KW - visual analog scale
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85217264689&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=85217264689&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1109/DASA63652.2024.10836606
DO - 10.1109/DASA63652.2024.10836606
M3 - Conference contribution
AN - SCOPUS:85217264689
T3 - 2024 International Conference on Decision Aid Sciences and Applications, DASA 2024
BT - 2024 International Conference on Decision Aid Sciences and Applications, DASA 2024
PB - Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Inc.
T2 - 2024 International Conference on Decision Aid Sciences and Applications, DASA 2024
Y2 - 11 December 2024 through 12 December 2024
ER -