ABSTRACT
Background: In the challenging times of Covid 19, anxiety increased among the general population. Fibromyalgia patients are more at risk of developing anxiety in these difficult times. This might result in more frequent visits to the rheumatology clinics with an exacerbation of their chronic pain syndrome. Objectives: The main objective of this study is to compare the prevalence of FM in the rheumatology outpatients' clinics during the Covid 19 lockdown period (2020) and during the same period in the previous year (2019). Methods: A cross-sectional study is conducted through 5 rheumatology clinics located in the 3 biggest emirates of the country (3 in Dubai, 1 in Abu Dhabi and 1 in Sharjah) to detect the number and charachteristics of fbromyalgia from March 15 to May 15th2019, and March 15 to May 15th2020. Results: Total number of patients seen from march to May 2019 was 3480 out of them 55 were fbromyalgia patients with frequency 0.0158%. While from march to May 2020 total number of patients seen were 1355 out of them 66 were fbromy-algia patients with frequency 0.0487%. Figure 1 Descriptive analysis of fibromyalgia patients seen in the lockdown time March to May 2020 shows that;gender was 64 females 97%, 2 males 3%, profession 36 unemployed 54.5%, 28 white collar 42.4%, 2 blue collar 3%, Age minimum was 25 years, maximum 77 years, with mean 48.3±13 years. Table 1 Tender points were 15.7±3, VAS for pain 6.5±2.1, sleep disturbance was present in 47 patients 71.2%, fatigue 65 patients 98.5%, irritable bowel syndrome in 26 patients 39.4%, headache in 32 patients 48.5%, anxiety in 43 patients 65.2%, and Depression in 37 patients 56.1 %. Comparing frequencies of fbromyalgia between March to May 2019 and 2020 shows a signifcantly higher frequency of fbromyalgia in March to May 2020, 3.1-fold more than 2019. Conclusion: The prevalence of patients with fbromyalgia seen in the Rheumatology clinics signifcantly increased during the lockdown time in comparison to the same period of 2019.