Two nested syndromes: fibromyalgia and neuropathic pain in prediabetes—a pilot study

Background: This study aimed to determine the prevalence of neuropathic pain (NeP) and fibromyalgia syndrome (FMS) in prediabetics and to compare them with normoglycemic controls, to disclose the impact of NeP and FMS in disease burden. Methods: People, 18–65 years old, who were admitted to a tertiary hospital’s internal medicine outpatient clinic for routine health check-ups and then those who were newly diagnosed with prediabetes were recruited as a prediabetic group and those who were normoglycemic were recruited as a control group. Participants’ demographics and clinical data were recorded. The ShortForm-36 and Hospital Anxiety-Depression Scale were answered by the participants. The 2016 ACR Fibromyalgia Diagnostic Criteria and the painDETECT questionnaire were used for evaluation of FMS and NeP, respectively. One hundred nine prediabetics and 53 controls were enrolled. Results: Eighty-four (77.1%) of 109 prediabetics and 37 of 53 controls (69.8%) were female. The mean age of the prediabetics was 48.85 (SD = 9.8) and the controls was 47.37 (SD = 11.11). Age, gender, BMI, smoking status, occupational, marital, and educational status were similar between the groups. FMS was more common in prediabetics 32 (29.6%) of 109 than in normoglycemics 7 (13.2 %) of 53 (p = 0.022). Eight of the prediabetics (7.4%) and 2 of the normoglycemics (3.8%) had possible or likely NeP (p = 0.273). The frequency of possible or likely NeP was higher in prediabetics with FMS than without FMS (p = 0.001). The prevalence of FMS was higher in prediabetics with NeP (87.5%) than without NeP (25.5%) (p = 0.001). Prediabetics with FMS or NeP had lower QoL than without FMS or NeP (p < 0.001, p = 0.014, respectively). Conclusion: While evaluating prediabetics, it is important to assess both FMS and NeP.