Prevalence of Oral Findings in Egyptian Patients Diagnosed With Familial Mediterranean Fever: A Hospital-Based Cross-sectional Study

Familial Mediterranean Fever (FMF) is a monogenic autoinflammatory disease and the most common of the periodic fever syndromes. FMF patients usually present with recurrent episodes of fever. They also suffer from abdominal, chest and joint pain due to serositis. Patients may present with erysipelas, amyloidosis, and rarely, ophthalmic manifestations. The oral cavity and related facial structures may also be affected. Oral lesions such as: recurrent oral ulcers, macroglossia and high arched palate. The prevalence of oral findings in FMF remains variable and underexplored. An accurate examination is required for the early identification of FMF cases. Diagnostic delay is common in FMF and complicated by incomplete clinical presentation and overlap in symptoms with other diseases. So, Recognizing other signs and symptoms could be incorporated into diagnostic criteria of FMF for early diagnosis and treatment with improvement of quality of life. This study will be performed at the Collagen Diseases Clinic, Abu Elreesh Japanese Children's Hospital, Cairo, Egypt. Egyptian children aged 6 to 15 years, with a confirmed diagnosis of FMF will be enrolled and recruited consecutively either at their initial diagnosis or follow-up visits. On the other hand, Children with other systemic diseases not related to FMF, children who are unable to cooperate or refuse to participate will be excluded from the study. During this visit, data will be collected through clinical oral examination using a standardized dental chart, along with a review of their medical records. The oral findings will be reported as binary data (yes / no). Moreover, documenting such oral findings could provide an important baseline for identifying FMF-associated anomalies in the population.