The association of carotid intima-media thickness with body mass index and cortisol level in fibromyalgia syndrome

Abstract

Objective: Patients with fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) may have the risk for atherosclerotic disease becauseof chronic stress, disrupted neuroendocrine axis, high BMI and inflammation. This is study aimed to researchthe stress and the stress-related diseases in patients with FMS by measuring obesity, morning serum cortisollevel, and carotid intima-media thickness (CIMT), which is the early indicator of the atherosclerosis.Methods: This is a case-control study. It is included 57 patients who were diagnosed with FMS according to2010 American College of Rheumatology (ACR) Criteria and visited the outpatient clinic in February 2016.As a control group, 36 healthy females who visited the outpatient clinic in the same month were included.Carotid intima-media thickness and cortisol levels were analysed.Results: The present study included 93 females (between 15 and 79 years old) in total. The mean age of the57 females with FMS and 37 healthy females was 44.5 ± 10.6 years and 47.9 ± 18.5 years, respectively (p =0.260). The mean CIMT value of the FMS and control groups was 0.64 ± 0.17 mm and 0.59 ± 0.16 mm,respectively (p = 0.170). The morning blood cortisol level in the FMS and control groups was 7.8 ± 3.3 ng/dLand 8.7 ± 2.8 ng/dL, respectively (p = 0.460). The CIMT and morning blood cortisol level were not correlatedin the FMS group.Conclusion: According to the present study, CIMT value and morning blood cortisol level were not foundsignificantly different in FMS group, and also were not found correlated with each other.