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Rheumatology Advance Access originally published online on August 4, 2009
Rheumatology 2009 48(10):1273-1278; doi:10.1093/rheumatology/kep218
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© The Author 2009. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the British Society for Rheumatology. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

Virtual reality tasks disclose spatial memory alterations in fibromyalgia

Rosa Cánovas1,*, Irene León1,*, María D. Roldán1, Robert Astur2 and Jose M. Cimadevilla1

1Department of Neuroscience, University of Almería, Almería, Spain and 2Olin Neuropsychiatry Research Center, Institute of Living at Hartford Hospital, Hartford, CT, USA.

Correspondence to: Jose M. Cimadevilla, Department of Neuroscience, University of Almería, Carretera de Sacramento s/n, 04120, Almería, Spain. E-mail: jcimadev{at}ual.es


  Abstract

Objective. The objective is to assess performance on virtual reality spatial memory tasks as well as classical neuropsychological tests in patients with fibromyalgia (FM).

Methods. Fifteen FM patients and fifteen healthy age- and education-matched controls performed the virtual versions of the Morris water maze and the hole board (a virtual version called Boxes room). All participants also completed a comprehensive neuropsychological evaluation that included measures of general intelligence, attention/working memory and visuospatial memory.

Results. Both virtual reality tasks were demonstrated to be sensitive to spatial memory alterations. FM patients performed significantly worse than controls in the spatial navigation tasks, showing significantly more errors than their matched controls, while no significant differences were found between patients and controls regarding standard neuropsychological testing. In addition, those FM patients with longer chronicity had lower auditory memory span, visuospatial memory and general intelligence within their group.

Conclusion. These results are the first to demonstrate that there is a spatial learning deficit in people with FM, which suggest that the hippocampal system can be disturbed in this syndrome.

KEY WORDS: Neuropsychological assessment, Brain, Cognitive dysfunction, Pain, Women's health, Fibromyalgia, Virtual reality, Navigation

*Rosa Cánovas and Irene León contributed equally to this work.

Submitted 3 March 2009; revised version accepted 23 June 2009.
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