Fibromyalgia incidence among patients with hepatitis B infection

Aim: The purpose of our investigation was to evaluate the incidence of fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) and identify FMS-related clinical symptoms in hepatitis B virus (HBV) patients.
Methods: One hundred and eighteen HBV surface antigen (HbsAg)-positive patients (40 with chronic active hepatitis B, 40 hepatitis B carriers and 38, all of whom had been antiretroviral-treated for at least 3 months) were included in this study. In addition, 60 age- and gender-matched HbsAg-negative healthy controls were included in the study.
Results: There was no significant difference in age, gender or body mass index (BMI) between the two groups (P > 0.05). Serum aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase levels were significantly higher in HBV patients relative to the control group (P < 0.05). The incidence of FMS, widespread body pain, fatigue, sleep disturbance, anxiety, morning stiffness, arthralgia was significantly greater among HBV patients relative to the control group. Additionally, the mean tender point counts and the visual analog scale values were significantly higher among the HBV patients (P < 0.05).
Conclusions: The results of the present study demonstrate that FMS incidence is greater among HBV patients relative to control subjects. However, there were no differences in FMS incidence among the subgroups of HBV diagnoses.