The Role of Some Foods and Other Factors on The Attacks In Patients with FMF: A Cross-Sectional Study

Objective: Familial Mediterranean fever (FMF) is an inflammatory disease inherited in autosomal recessive patterns. This cross-sectional study aimed to elucidate whether some food groups and environmental factors trigger attacks in FMF patients. Material and Methods: This study applied an online questionnaire form to patients between January 2023 and April 2023 through the internet. Just FMF patients were included in the study. A questionnaire was produced by researchers examining food groups in terms of attack stimulation as increasing, decreasing, or not changing. Data analysis was performed with SPSS, version 24. Results: The mean age of 113 patients with FMF was 35,44±15,38, 55.8% of them (n= 63) were female and 44.2% of them were male (n=50). In all food groups, medical drug-used patients with FMF state that the most prominent attacks increasing foods were respectively; Carbonated beverages (61.10%), packaged foods (cake, chocolate, chips) (49.60%), and legumes (38.10%). When medical drug users were examined, there was a relationship between some of the food groups and gender. These groups were milk, oilseeds, acidic fruits, sulfurous vegetables (cabbage, cauliflower, etc.), legumes and carbonated beverages. In terms of age at disease onset, while significance was found cold weather in drug-using patients, yogurt, ayran, kefir and carbonated beverages were significantly related in non-drug users. Conclusions: Diet is the most prominent risk factor for progressing diseases. More detailed, larger sample-sized studies are needed to elucidate the relationship between diet and FMF attacks.