Infection frequency may not increase in Familial Mediterranean fever

Abstract

Objective: To the best of our knowledge, there is no study evaluating the infectious features of Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) in the literature. Here, we tested two hypotheses: infection is more common in FMF and FMF severity and infection may be linked. Methods: We included three groups: FMF (363 patients), spondyloarthropathy (SpA-patients) (112 patients) and control (121 patients). We screened participants for infection characteristics in the last year with a pre-approved and validated questionnaire. Firstly, we compared infection rates, frequency of infection types, and infection severity within groups. We then evaluated the factors associated with infection in FMF. Results: We found that infection rates were similar in FMF, SpA-patients and controls. However, admission to the infection outpatient clinic was more common in FMF (p=0.001) and the duration of workforce loss due to infection was longer in FMF than controls (p=0.002). Furthermore, FMF-patients with infection had higher disease severity (p=0.004), high acute phase reactants between attacks (p=0.006) and more site involvement during attacks (p<0.001). In multivariate analyses, the latter was found to be significant (p=0.003). Conclusion: We discovered no increase in the infection rate of FMF patients. Patients with infections, on the other hand, may have more severe FMF.