Objectives
Fibromyalgia treatment trends vary globally; however, the trend in South Korea has not been investigated yet. This study aimed to analyse the fibromyalgia treatment trends in South Korea.
Design
Retrospective, observational study using serial cross-sectional data.
Setting
The National Patient Samples of the Korean Health Insurance Review & Assessment Service from 2011 to 2018 were used.
Participants
A total of 31 059 patients with fibromyalgia were included in this study. The basic characteristics of the patients were stratified by sex, age and comorbidity. A patient was considered to have a condition if it was recorded as a principal diagnosis at least once in a year.
Primary and secondary outcome measures
Trends in the types of medical visits and prescribed treatments were investigated and the values are presented as rates per 100 patients. The types of pharmacological treatment were presented according to the existing clinical guidelines. Additionally, combination prescription trends and associated characteristics were investigated.
Results
Of the patients, 66.2% were female. Visits to internal medicine departments showed the most significant increase (2011: 11.34; 2018: 21.99; p
