title: Fibromyalgia complicating disease management in rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate frequency of fibromyalgia in rheumatoid arthritis and its effect on disease activity score.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross-sectional study.
  
  
  METHODS
  The Indus Hospital, Karachi, from December 2010 to May 2011.
  
  
  METHODS
  All adult patients of either gender diagnosed as rheumatoid arthritis on the basis of clinical, laboratory and X-ray criteria were included in the study. The sample data was separated into two groups depending on presence or absence of fibromyalgia and 28 joint disease activity score (DAS-28) value was evaluated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  There were 31 (25.83%) patients with rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia (RAFM) out of the total 120. The median (IQR) age of patients was 40 (32 - 51) years. All were females. The overall female frequency was 79 (88.8%). The median (IQR) DAS-28 score in RA group was 4.9 (3.66 - 5.71), while the median (IQR) DAS-28 score in RAFM was 7.04 (6.62 - 7.64) [p < 0.0001]. The number of patient getting combination therapy of DMARD in RAFM group was 61.3% while in RA group was 42.7%.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  DAS-28 was found to be significantly higher in RAFM patients probably because of higher perception of pain.
authors: Department of Medicine, The Indus Hospital, Karachi.
authors: Lubna
authors: L
authors: Abbasi
authors: Department of Medicine, Sindh Institute of Urology and Transplantation, Karachi.
authors: Fakhir Raza
authors: FR
authors: Haidri
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000188:drug therapy / Q000453:epidemiology*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D019468:Disease Management; D018450:Disease Progression; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010147:Pain Measurement; D010154:Pakistan / Q000453:epidemiology; D015995:Prevalence; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D017678:Sex Distribution; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents