AB1370-HPR COMPARISON OF SLEEP, FATIGUE AND SEXUAL PARAMETERS OF RHEUMATIC DISEASES
Authors: Fatma Birgül Kumbaroğlu, Gamze Arın, Nur Banu Karaca, Şule Apraş Bilgen, Edibe Ünal
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2019)

<h3>Background</h3> Chronic pain, sleep, and fatigue are common complaints in rheumatic disease (1). However, each rheumatic disease has different characteristics. So that it can be thought that individuals can be affected by different diseases in different ways (2). <h3>Objectives</h3> The aim of this study is to compare sleep, fatigue and sexual parameters in different rheumatic diseases. <h3>Methods</h3> Individuals diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) and Fibromyalgia (FMS) who applied to the Rheumatology Department of the Medical Faculty of Hacettepe University were included in the study. After the demographic characteristics of the individuals were recorded; sexual function, sexual willingness, fatigue, and sleep features were assessed with 11th, 27th, 29th and 30th items of BETY- Biopsychosocial Questionnaire (BETY-BQ) which is developed in rheumatic patients (3). <h3>Results</h3> 160 RA, 108 AS, and 131 FMS patients were included in the study. The scores of individuals on scales are shown in Table 1. There was no statistically significant difference among the three groups in terms of BMI (p&gt;0.05), while the mean age of RA patients was statistically different from the other two groups (p &lt;0.05). The sleep, fatigue and sexual parameters (sexual function, sexual willingness) were examined with Kruskal Wallis analysis. When analyzed in terms of differences according to RA, AS and FMS, the responses to sleep (p=0.015) and sexual functioning (p=0.003) were found different according to the diseases. However, there was no significant difference in the sexual willingness (p=0.248) and fatigue (p=0.708) related to the disease. Mann-Whitney U test was performed to test the significance of a pairwise difference using Bonferroni correction to adjust for multiple comparisons revealed that the difference between the groups was due to RA patients (Table 2). <h3>Conclusion</h3> As a result, all the patients who participated in this study have sleep, fatigue and sexual problems. Although the mean age of RA patients is higher than other patients, it is quite interesting that they have less sleep and sexual function problems. On the other hand, it was expected that symptoms of RA and AS diseases due to their inflammatory nature would be worse than FMS. Moreover, it can be estimated that AS patients have spinal involvement and this situation may affect their sexual function, but FMS patients results in terms of these parameters were unclear. It was concluded that the psychosocial characteristics were taken into consideration especially in FMS patients sexual parameters, fatigue, and sleep features during the disease management. <h3>References</h3> [1] Moldofsky, Harvey. ”Rheumatic manifestations of sleep disorders.” Current Opinion in Rheumatology 22.1 (2010): 59-63. [2] Hurd, Kelle, and Cheryl Barnabe. ”Systematic review of rheumatic disease phenotypes and outcomes in the Indigenous populations of Canada, the USA, Australia, and New Zealand.” Rheumatology international 37.4 (2017): 503-521. [3] Unal, Edibe, et al. “Effectiveness of a Biopsychosocial Exercise Approach in Rheumatic Diseases.” Arthrıtıs &amp; Rheumatology. Vol. 70. 111 Rıver St, Hoboken 07030-5774, Nj USA: Wıley, 2018. <h3>Disclosure of Interests</h3> None declared