Prevalence and Incidence of Patients with Fibromyalgia in Catalonia between 2010 and 2017. A Descriptive Observational Study
Abstract Background: To measure the prevalence and cumulative incidence of individuals diagnosed with fibromyalgia (FM) in Catalonia between 2010 and 2017. Methods: A retrospective observational study of the population of Catalonia between 2010 and 2017, both included, was designed to describe the incidence, prevalence and sociodemographic characteristics of individuals diagnosed with fibromyalgia. A total of 56,098 patients were included in the study. The scope of the study were the 283 Primary Care Teams (PCT), all managed by the Instituto Catalán de la Salud [Catalan Institute of Health] (ICS). Results: The diagnosis of FM is higher in females (95.4%) than males (4.55%), with a mean age of 53.0 [45.0-61.0] years. The prevalence of FM in the total population was 0.4% in 2010 and 1.4% in 2017. The highest prevalence was found in the 55-65 age group (1.05% in 2010, and 2.46% in 2017). A relationship was found between the prevalence of FM and the degree of socioeconomic deprivation in urban areas: the greater the deprivation, the greater the prevalence of FM. The cumulative incidence of FM in the population remained constant over time (0.11% in 2010 and 0.10% in 2017), being more prevalent in women than men (0.18% women, 0.01% men in 2017).Conclusions: Our study confirms that FM is a prevalent disease in Catalonia, with an upward trend in recent years and it is more prevalent in women.