Prevalence of Fibromyalgia in chronic kidney disease pre-dialysis patients: Experience from a Tertiary Care Renal unit in Pakistan

Background and Objective: Fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) is a well-established medical problem which gives rise pain at various sites, fatigue, sleep disturbances, poor memory and definitely affects quality of life. Its prevalence in chronic kidney disease (CKD) is scarcely reported, thus we aimed to assess this condition and report its prevalence in our population.

Methods: The current study was carried out in all adult CKD stage III and IV patients registered from January 2020 to July 2020 at outpatient department of a tertiary care renal institution in Karachi, Pakistan. This is a cross sectional study where prevalence of FMS was assessed by interviewing and examining patients according to established criteria for FMS. All data and laboratory parameters were recorded on a proforma and statistical analysis was done on SPSS version22.0.

Results: During the study period of six months, 161 patients with CKD stage III and IV were registered. Among these 81 male and 80 were females. Mean age was 47.12±9.27 (range 21-60) years. There were 22 (13.66%) patients found to have FMS. Mean Widespread Pain Index (WPI) score was 5.68±4.36 (range 1-16), while severity scale (SS) 2a was 3.17±1.78 (range 1-9) and SS2b 2.04±0.96 (range 1-5) was recorded.

Conclusion: From Pakistan prevalence of FMS has never been published. As this syndrome affects quality of life of patients, its recognition and proper management is immensely required.