Abstract
Background Fibromyalgia (FM) is a common disorder in general population and it causes an increased patient load in hospitals and specialty clinics. FM attendance will be high in clinics dealing with neuropathic pain and other pain syndromes. Though prevalence of FM has been studied in community and pain clinics in other countries, it has not so far been studied in India. So, a study is relevant and hence it was planned in neurology clinic of a teaching government hospital. At present, they are treated mainly by nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) which are public health hazard. Methods Using 2016 revision of 2010/2011 American College of Rheumatology criteria of FM, patients were screened in neurology OPD. Proportion and clinical profile were noted. Study was continued for 6 months till the sample size was met. Results A total of 2,300 patients were screened. Two hundred and ninety-eight FM patients were identified among them. Proportion was 12.96%. Delayed diagnosis of more than a year occurred in 55%. Only 29.2% were treated, but none was offered cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) before. NSAIDs for pain were given for 51.01%. Conclusion Proportion of FM detected is considerable. Affection of homemakers and manual laborers, delayed diagnosis, coexisting comorbid illness, and treatment of pain with NSAIDs are causes of concern. Clinicians should be sensitized to clinical profile and criteria of FM. Patients should be diagnosed and treated by CBT at the earliest and NSAIDs should be avoided as far as possible.
Copyright
Association for Helping Neurosurgical Sick People. This is an open access article published by Thieme under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Derivative-Non Commercial License, permitting copying and reproduction so long as the original work is given appropriate credit.
Contents may not be used for commercial purposes, or adapted, remixed, transformed or built upon. (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/)
This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-No Derivatives License, which permits unrestricted reproduction and distribution, for non-commercial purposes only; and use and reproduction, but not distribution, of adapted material for non-commercial purposes only, provided the original work is properly cited.
