Familial mediterranean fever reduces the quality of life

Background: Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is a lifelong disease that begins in childhood requiring continuous treatment and follow-up. FMF progresses with attacks and the unpredictable pattern of the attacks causes anxiety, depression, and a decrease in the quality of life. The current study aimed to evaluate the quality of life of FMF patients and the factors that affect it. In particular, to examine the effect of clinical findings, FMF severity and anxiety-depression risk on quality of life. Results: In the study cohort, anxiety was more common than depression (84 % vs 70 %). However, there was no relation between Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale-Anxiety (HADS-A) and Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale-Depression (HADS-D) scores with age, gender, presence of comorbid conditions, and FMF severity score. This suggests that independently from clinical features, the disease itself is a risk for depression and especially anxiety. Conclusion: The current study shows that FMF is a disease that reduces the quality of life both mentally and physically, and suggests that we should also evaluate patients from a psychosocial perspective during the follow-up.