Fibromyalgia syndrome in medical students

Abstract

To investigate the frequency of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) among medical students and its stratifications. The work included 513 medical students from Kafrelsheikh University. The 2010 and 2016 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) fibromyalgia classification criteria were used to determine the presence of FMS. The chronic pain grade questionnaire was used to assess pain severity and impact on daily activities, recreational, social and family activities, and ability to work. The students were 296 females (57.7 %) and 217 males (42.3 %). 64 (12.5 %) fulfilled the 2010 criteria (F:M 2.8:1) (p = 0.015). The frequency of female affection was 15.9 % (47/296) compared to 7.83 % (17/217) in male. 37 (7.2 %) fulfilled 2016 criteria and only six cases (9.3 %) were known to have FMS. The frequency of FMS in students of the first 3 years (basic science) and the following 3 years (clinical) was 14.1 % and 9.5 %, respectively. Considering the chronic pain grade, there was a significant difference (p < 0.0001) in all pain items, daily recreational, social, family activities, and ability to work between those with and without FMS. 213 (41.5 %) had knowledge about FMS and the source of their information was from social media (39.4 %), their academic study (26.8 %), web pages (25.4 %) and friends (8.5 %). Fibromyalgia is highly frequent among medical students, especially females of basic years with a high impact on recreational, social, family activities, and ability to work. Medical students should be considered a “high-risk” group for FMS and should be educated about it and managed accordingly.