Assessment of Quality of Life, School Performance and Physical Activity in Adolescents with Familial Mediterranean Fever.

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate differences in school performance, school attendance, quality of life and physical activity in adolescents with Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) compared to healthy controls.

METHODS: One hundred and twenty-nine patients with FMF and 154 healthy controls between 13-18 years were included in the study. Demographic, school performance (according to grade point average), school absenteeism, type and frequency of exercise were recorded. Quality of life was evaluated with the Pediatric Quality of Life Inventory (PedsQL) 4.0.

RESULTS: The mean age of FMF patients was 15.1 ± 2.7 years and 69 patients (53.5%) were female. School performance was significantly higher in the control group compared to FMF patients (p<0.001). In the control group, there were significantly higher participants who engaged in professional sports (p<0.001). Patients with FMF had significantly lower self-reported PedsQL scores in school functioning, physical and psychosocial health domains compared to those in the control group (p=0.001, p<0.001, p=0.028, respectively).

CONCLUSION: FMF patients demonstrated lower school performance and quality of life scores compared to healthy controls. In addition to improving symptoms in chronic diseases, it is important to evaluate and improve the quality of life of patients in routine practice and to ensure psychosocial well-being.