Abstract: (9724 Views)
Background: Fibromyalgia has been defined as a constellation of complaints including diffuse chronic pain and the presence of tender points. Its frequency varies from 3% to 20%. This study was conducted to estimate the prevalence of fibromyalgia syndrome in patients who come to the general medical clinic of Dr. Shariati hospital.
Methods: Using a standard questionnaire, all patients who came to the general medical clinic were asked about their ages, presence of diffuse chronic pain, marital status, educational level, living place, number of children and presence of fatigue or sleep disorder by a physician, without any gender or age restriction and without considering their main complaints or their underground diseases. The same physician did a thorough physical examination with special attention to the tender points in order to diagnose fibromyalgia according to the ACR criteria. To rule out other differential diagnosis relevant tests would be ordered for suspected patients.
Results: Among 1004 patients who were assessed, the prevalence of diffuse chronic pain was 14.6% (95%CI: 12.4-16.8). Forty patients 4% (95%CI: 2.9-5.2) suffered from fibromyalgia syndrome, their mean age (±SD) was (48.4±14.9) years.92.5% of these cases were female and 7.5% (3 patients) were male.The prevalence of fibromyalgia among women was 5.98% (95% CI: 4.31-8.06) and among men was 0.78% (95% CI: 0.20- 2.11) (OR=8.1,95%CI:2.48-26.44). There was a meaningful statistical relation between the prevalence of fibromyalgia and gender (P=0.001). There was also a direct statistical relation between the prevalence of fibromyalgia and low educational level (P=0.003). But there was not any relation between fibromyalgia and living place or marital status.Also, there was no relationship between the prevalence of fibromyalgia and having more children (Logestic analysis).82.5% of patients with fibromyalgia suffered from sleep disorders and 92.5% of them complained of fatigue. There was remarkable statistical relations between fibromyalgia syndrome and sleep disorders or fatigue. (P<0.001)
Conclusion: Fibromyalgia syndrome is relatively prevalent among Iranian and in some extents its epidemiological aspects are comparable to those in developed countries. More extensive epidemiologic studies on fibromyalgia is recommended in general population