Reliability and validity of the Turkish version of the fibromyalgia rapid screening tool (FiRST).
Reyhan Celiker, Lale Altan, Aylin Rezvani and 9 others
PMID 28265170WHAT IT FOUND
In Turkish patients with chronic diffuse pain, the six-item FiRST gave similar answers when repeated after six hours and agreed with fibromyalgia criteria.
It may help physical therapists flag possible fibromyalgia before evaluation.
Key findings
01The Turkish FiRST gave similar scores when repeated six hours later in 269 patients.
02Using a cut-off of 5, 156 patients had a score of 5; 116 met ACR 2013AltCr criteria, and 93 of 113 below 5 did not meet criteria.
03Against the ACR 2013AltCr, the FiRST had sensitivity 83.82 and specificity 68.42.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for PTs
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What it does not show
This version applies to Turkish-speaking patients, so it does not show whether the tool works in other languages or cultures. The sample was a convenience sample from tertiary care hospitals, so it may not represent patients seen in primary care. Patients with severe depression, schizophrenia, end-stage heart failure, hemiplegia, spinal cord injury, or similar conditions were excluded, so the findings do not cover those groups.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest. Neither investigators nor subjects were compensated for participation.
The easy way to misread this
Do not treat the FiRST as a diagnosis of fibromyalgia. It is a screening tool that agreed with the ACR 2013AltCr, but the study used Turkish-speaking patients from tertiary care hospitals and excluded several conditions, so it does not prove the tool can replace clinical assessment.