קדחת ים תיכונית משפחתית והשירות בצה"ל: [מאמרים]

Background: Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is one of the most commongenetic diseases in Israel. FMF is characterized by acute fever attacks accompaniedby peritonitis, pleurisy and erysipelas-like erythema. These attacks tend to occur instressful situations, such as military service. Patients homozygous for the M694Vmutation experience a more severe form of the disease. This study's objective wasto observe the disease's course throughout the patients’ service in the IDF, with anemphasis on patients homozygous for the M694V mutation.Methods: The study was conducted on 100 FMF patients who had completedmilitary service. The patients filled out a questionnaire regarding their militaryservice and disease.Results: The average number of attacks increased from 7.1 per month prior torecruitment to 16.9 during service, and decreased to 7.5 following discharge. Theincrease was similar in the homozygous for M694V mutation group and in thepatients with other mutations.The average dose of colchicine increased from 1.2 mg/day to 1.7 and did notdecrease following discharge; no significant difference between the two groupswas observed in this respect. The participants rated their satisfaction with theirmilitary service 6.8 on average on a scale of 1 to 10, and the military doctors’knowledge on the subject of FMF – 3.6 on the same.Conclusions: FMF tends to worsen significantly during military service, withan increase in the number of attacks and in the dose of colchicine needed fortreatment. The patients gave the military doctors’ knowledge regarding theirdisease a low rating. (From the article)