Prevalence of Fibromyalgia Syndrome and Its Correlations with Arrhythmia in Patients with Palpitations

Aşkın, Ayhan; Güvendi, Ece; Özkan, Ayten; Şimşek, Ersin Çağrı; Kocabaş, Uğur; Tosun, Aliye

doi:10.14712/18059694.2018.10

Acta Medica > Archive > 2017, Vol. 60 > Issue 4 > Prevalence of Fibromyalgia Syndrome and…

Acta Med. 2017, 60: 146-151

https://doi.org/10.14712/18059694.2018.10

Prevalence of Fibromyalgia Syndrome and Its Correlations with Arrhythmia in Patients with Palpitations

Ayhan Aşkın^a, Ece Güvendi^b, Ayten Özkan^c, Ersin Çağrı Şimşek^d, Uğur Kocabaş^e, Aliye Tosun^a

^aDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Katip Çelebi University, Faculty of Medicine, Izmir, Turkey
^bDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Katip Çelebi University Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey
^cDepartment of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, Selçuk State Hospital, Izmir, Turkey
^dDepartment of Cardiology, University of Health Science, Tepecik Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey
^eDepartment of Cardiology, Katip Çelebi University Atatürk Training and Research Hospital, Izmir, Turkey

Received July 19, 2017
Accepted October 18, 2017

Objective: It is aimed to determine the prevalence of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and its correlations with arrhythmia in patients with palpitations. Material and Methods: Sixty-two patients who underwent electrophysiological study (EPS) due to palpitation complaints in Cardiology department and 40 healthy controls were included in the study. The precise diagnosis of arrhythmia was established using EPS. All participants were screened for FMS using American College of Rheumatology 2010 Fibromyalgia diagnostic criteria. Clinical assessments included measurement of severity of pain, fatigue and morning fatigue with visual analog scale (VAS), functional status with Fibromyalgia Impact Questionnaire (FIQ), and anxiety/depression with Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HAD). Results: FMS was diagnosed in 22 of the 62 patients (36%), and 4 of the 40 healthy controls (10%) (p < 0.05). Mean HAD scores of the patients were significantly higher than the controls (p < 0.05). The frequency of FMS was statistically higher in EPS+ and EPS− patients with palpitations than in controls (p < 0.05) (38%, 33%, 10%, respectively), but there was no difference between EPS+ and EPS− groups. There were no statistical differences between the 3 groups, in terms of pain intensity, fatigue level, FIQ and HAD scores (p > 0.05). EPS+ patients with FMS had higher fatigue levels, HAD and FIQ scores than EPS− patients, although statistically insignificant. HV durations were statistically longer in the EPS− subgroup (p < 0.05) but other EPS data were similar. Conclusion: FMS frequency and HAD anxiety scores were found to be higher in patients with palpitation complaints. However, we found no association between arrhythmia, EPS parameters and FMS. In our clinical practice we should keep in mind to carry out assessments in terms of FMS in patients with palpitation.