Özet:

The presence of accompanying fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was at 14-17%. The most frequently applied way when the treatment decision is made in RA is to calculate the activity of the disease. The disease activity is determined by the disease activity score (DAS 28). Studies have shown that the activity of the disease in the presence of FMS in RA patients is more severe. Therefore, if the presence of FMS is ignored, more aggressive treatment approaches can be applied to these patients. The aim of this study is to determine the frequency of FMS accompanied by RA and to assess the impact of FMS on RA disease activity and the treatment approach applied in RA. The study included a total of 74 female patients and the patients were divided into two groups (Group 1: only RA, Group 2: RA+FMS) according to the presence of FMS. Patients' sensitive (HE) and swelling joints (SE) numbers, erythrosite sedimentation rate (ESH), visual analog scale (VAS) values for pain levels, and DAS 28 scores were calculated for RA disease activity. Patients were also examined with FMS sensitivity. The group 1 included 44 patients and the group 2 included 30 patients. In Group 2, the average DAS score of 28 (3.41 & 4.77, p:0,000), the average HE value (4 & 11) (p:0,000) and the average VAS (21.81 & 45,00) (p:0,000) were significantly different. However, the difference between the average SHE value (0 & 0) (p:0,240) and the average ESH (24.93 ± 18 & 30.33 ± 25 mm/h) (p:0,869) was not meaningful. The presence of FMS in RA patients did not change the type of medical treatment. In this study, the number of HE in the presence of FMS in RA patients was higher than the average score of VAS and DAS 28. The RA disease activity may be exaggerated in the presence of FMS when measured by DAS 28, and this may lead to improper use of treatment. However, there was no difference between the medical treatments applied in our clinic because the presence of FMS was not ignored.