Pre-diagnostical Knowledge Did Not Provide Early Diagnosis in a Single-Center Turkish Familial Mediterranean Fever Cohort

Abstract

Early diagnosis of familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is crucial for preventing both recurrent attacks of polyserositis and complications in the course of the disease such as amyloidosis. Pre-diagnostical knowledge about the disease may assist early diagnosis. In this study, we evaluated the importance of pre-diagnostical knowledge about FMF for early diagnosis. We enrolled 138 FMF patients to the study. Then, the patients were dichotomized according to the patients’ FMF knowledge before diagnosis. We found that 40 (28.9%) of the patients were informed of the disease before diagnosis. Thirty-six of those patients got the data from their family members with FMF. Both demographic and disease-related features were similar between the groups. Furthermore, pre-diagnostic knowledge about FMF did not assist for early diagnosis of FMF. Interestingly, only half of the patients with history of FMF in family members were informed of the disease before diagnosis. Therefore, genetic consultation and patient education with questioning the patients for family history during medical evaluation may help early diagnosis in FMF.