On 12 January 2020, the World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed that a novel coronavirus was the cause of a respiratory illness in a cluster of people in Wuhan City, Hubei Province, China, which was reported to the WHO on 31 December 2019. There is evidence of a high prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in Fibromyalgia (FM )(especially depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder), which are associated with a worse clinical profile. In these 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.
The first confirmed case relating to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United Arab Emirates was
announced on 29 January 2020.
On March 11, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared the global outbreak a pandemic.
Many measures have been taken by the UAE government since the COVID-19 outbreak started
hitting the region. From Mid March, the UAE had advised all citizens to restrict themselves
to essential travel only and had implemented a curfew between 8 pm and 6 am every day
starting from the end of March. On April 5th, UAE imposed a two-week lockdown to contain the
COVID-19 pandemic and announced there will be disinfection drives.
Many awareness campaigns were initiated by rheumatologists through different media channels
advising patients with rheumatic diseases to avoid clinics and hospitals unless they have an
emergency. Some healthcare facilities started telemedicine services including rheumatology
outpatient clinics. However, most of the clinics and hospitals have maintained open
rheumatology clinics aiming to manage emergency cases.
Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic disorder characterized by widespread and chronic
musculoskeletal pain and other frequent syndromes such as chronic fatigue sleep disturbance,
cognitive impairment, irritable bowel disease, depression, and anxiety.
There is evidence of a high prevalence of psychiatric comorbidities in FM (especially
depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder), which are associated with a worse
clinical profile.
In these 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.
Inclusion Criteria:
- Patients aged > 18 year
- Diagnosis of primary fibromyalgia
- Newly diagnosed and follow up patients are included
- Patients who have physically attended the rheumatology clinic during the study period.
Exclusion Criteria:
- Patients aged < 18-year-old
- Patients with inflammatory arthritis and associated FM (Secondary FM)
- Patients who didn't physically attend the rheumatology clinics (Those who used Phone
calls and other telemedicine platforms).
Al-Azhar Faculty of medicine, Rheumatology Department
Cairo, Egypt
Ahmed Abogamal, Principal Investigator
Al-Azhar Faculty of medicine- Cairo