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. 2021 Jun;8(2):817-831.
doi: 10.1007/s40744-021-00303-1. Epub 2021 Apr 4.

Demographic Characteristics and Clinical Features of Fibromyalgia in China: A Cross-Sectional Study

Juan Jiao  1 , Zengyu Cheng  1 , Wen Wang  2 , Yayun Zhao  3   4 , Quan Jiang  5
Affiliations

Demographic Characteristics and Clinical Features of Fibromyalgia in China: A Cross-Sectional Study

Juan Jiao et al. Rheumatol Ther. 2021 Jun.

Erratum in

Abstract

Objective: The aim of this study is to characterize the demographics, fibromyalgia-related symptom severity and quality of life (QOL) among Chinese fibromyalgia patients.

Methods: A total of 124 patients who met the ACR 1990 criteria were recruited. Each subject completed a packet of questionnaires for collecting data on the demographics, medical history and severity of six major symptoms of fibromyalgia (i.e., pain, fatigue, sleep quality, depression, stress and QOL).

Results: The majority of the study subjects were women (86.3%), were married (78.2%) and had a mean age of 49.4 years and a median symptom duration of 24 months. Compared to their female counterparts, male patients were younger, were more likely to be employed, had a higher income and were more likely to be current smokers and alcohol drinkers (all p ≦ 0.027). Most patients experienced moderate to severe pain (69.4%), severe fatigue (70.2%) and moderate to severe depression (53.3%). A small percentage (19.4%) of the patients had very poor quality of sleep, and over one third (37.1%) suffered from moderate to severe stress. Less than one third (27.5%) patients' health status was moderately or highly impacted by fibromyalgia. The mental health of men was affected significantly more than that of women, with lower SF-36 scores in the SF-36 mental component summary (p = 0.043) and role emotional (p = 0.006).

Conclusion: This study has revealed that Chinese fibromyalgia patients might share similar demographics but milder fibromyalgia-related symptoms and better mental QOL compared to patients of other races and ethnic groups. Some differences between male and female patients were found, too. Further cross-sectional studies with a larger sample size and nationwide study sites are needed to replicate those clinical findings.

Keywords: Characteristics; Chinese population; Features; Fibromyalgia.

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