Background

Fibromyalgia (FM) is a chronic pain disorder marked by fatigue, poor sleep, and cognitive issues, often worsened by stress. Medical students, due to high stress levels, may be at increased risk, though few studies have focused on them. Global FM prevalence ranges from 2% to 10%, with higher rates in women; diagnosis is based on WPI and SSS per ACR 2010 criteria, assessing pain distribution and symptom severity.

Objectives

To find the rate of fibromyalgia-related symptoms and associated factors among medical students.

Material and methods

A cross-sectional study among Al-Nahrain medical students during February and April/2024. To achieve the aim of this research study, a modified questionnaire based on fibromyalgia survey diagnostic criteria was used. A level of significance of less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results

A total of 537 students participated; 63.1% were females, most of them in the 4th class in the college and with normal BMI. Fibromyalgia symptoms were reported by 19.9%, with fatigue (60.3%), non-restorative sleep (76.7%), and depression (65.4%) being common. No significant association was found between FM and gender, BMI, or lifestyle factors, but FM was significantly linked to recent pain (p < 0.0001) and use of pain drugs (p = 0.005). Symptom severity components were all strongly associated with FM presence (p ≤ 0.002).

Conclusions

A high rate of fibromyalgia was reported. There was a significant association between the occurrence of fibromyalgia symptoms and the presence of pain, using drugs, severity of fatigue, non-restorative sleep, cognitive symptoms, headache, and depression.