Objectives: To determine the prevalence of juvenile fibromyalgia syndrome (JFMS) in children with familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) and to evaluate quality of life (QoL) and depression.
Methods: Ninety-one FMF patients (M/F: 44/47) who fulfilled the Livneh criteria and 60 healthy children (M/F: 27/33) were enrolled in the study. Yunus and Masi's criteria were used for diagnosis of JFMS. Depression was assessed with Children's Depression Inventory (CDI) and QoL was evaluated with child and parent reports of Paediatric Quality of Life Inventory 4.0 (PedsQL™).
Results: While 20 (21.9%) of 91 FMF patients fulfilled JFMS criteria, 2 (3.3%) of the control group met the diagnostic criteria of JFMS (p=0.002). PedsQL™ scores (child self-report and parent-report) of the FMF patients were significantly lower and the depression scores were significantly higher than the healthy controls (p<0.001 for all). When the FMF patients were assigned to two groups as FMF with or without JFMS, patients with JFMS were found to have a higher depression score (p=0.007) and child and parent reports of PedsQL™ 4.0 were lower in the children with JFMS than in the patients without JFMS (p=0.001, p=0.003, respectively).
Conclusions: We have determined that JFMS frequency was higher in children with FMF and patients with FMF and JFMS had a poor QoL and were more susceptible to depression. FMF patients with widespread and persistent pain should be evaluated for JFMS in order to avoid unnecessary investigations and inappropriate treatment.