Wilson Bautista-Molano1, Daniel Fernández-Avila2, Ruth Jiménez2, Rosa Cardozo2, Andrés Marín2, María Del Pilar Soler3, Olga Gómez2, Oscar Ruiz2. 1. Clínica de Artritis Reumatoide, Centro Médico Palermo, Organización Sanitas Internacional, Bogotá, Colombia; Facultad de Medicina, Universidad Militar Nueva Granada, Bogotá, Colombia. Electronic address: wilson.bautista@gmail.com. 2. Clínica de Artritis Reumatoide, Centro Médico Palermo, Organización Sanitas Internacional, Bogotá, Colombia. 3. Unidad de Investigaciones, Fundación Universitaria Sanitas, Bogotá, Colombia.
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: Few studies report the epidemiological profile of RA patients attending clinics for comprehensive care. We describe the clinical, socio-demographic characteristics and comorbidities of a cohort of patients with RA. METHODS: Cross-sectional study in a cohort of patients according to ACR criteria/EULAR 2010 classification who have entered to the AR clinic since October 2012 until May 2014, referred from primary care. Frequencies for socio-demographic, comorbidity, state of disease activity, functional status, biomarkers and therapeutic modalities variables are described. RESULTS: In total, 1652 patients were included with a mean age of 58 years and a duration of 9 years. Rheumatoid factor was positive in 80% and anti-citrullinated peptide antibody in 63% of patients. In total, 43.6% of patients had comorbidities: Hypertension (20.4%), osteoporosis (17.3%) and Sjögren's syndrome (10.4%). Fifty percent of the patients had moderate and high disease activity level measured by DAS-28 score, and the mean HAQ score was 0.64 (DS 1.12). Seventy three percent of patients were treated with oral disease modified anti rheumatic treatment and 63.6% of them were with methotrexate. 42.4% of the patients were treated with glucocorticoids (mean dose 6.3mg). CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiological behavior of a group of RA patients is reported. The presence of comorbidities is significant affecting the risk of morbidity and mortality in these patients. The definition of the epidemiological profile of this population will allow the design of research questions to resolve outstanding problems in the clinical context of this pathology.
INTRODUCTION: Few studies report the epidemiological profile of RApatients attending clinics for comprehensive care. We describe the clinical, socio-demographic characteristics and comorbidities of a cohort of patients with RA. METHODS: Cross-sectional study in a cohort of patients according to ACR criteria/EULAR 2010 classification who have entered to the AR clinic since October 2012 until May 2014, referred from primary care. Frequencies for socio-demographic, comorbidity, state of disease activity, functional status, biomarkers and therapeutic modalities variables are described. RESULTS: In total, 1652 patients were included with a mean age of 58 years and a duration of 9 years. Rheumatoid factor was positive in 80% and anti-citrullinated peptide antibody in 63% of patients. In total, 43.6% of patients had comorbidities: Hypertension (20.4%), osteoporosis (17.3%) and Sjögren's syndrome (10.4%). Fifty percent of the patients had moderate and high disease activity level measured by DAS-28 score, and the mean HAQ score was 0.64 (DS 1.12). Seventy three percent of patients were treated with oral disease modified anti rheumatic treatment and 63.6% of them were with methotrexate. 42.4% of the patients were treated with glucocorticoids (mean dose 6.3mg). CONCLUSIONS: The epidemiological behavior of a group of RApatients is reported. The presence of comorbidities is significant affecting the risk of morbidity and mortality in these patients. The definition of the epidemiological profile of this population will allow the design of research questions to resolve outstanding problems in the clinical context of this pathology.