The epidemiology of rheumatoid arthritis in a cohort of Colombian patients

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease with an estimatedprevalence of between 0.8% and 1.0%. It is most common in women. Epidemiological RA datain Colombia is scarce. The objective was to determine epidemiological and pharmacologicalcharacteristics of a population diagnosed with RA across 5 Colombian cities between theyears 2009 and 2013.Methods: A descriptive study was developed that used information from medical records ata rheumatology patients care facility. The records were identified according to the keywords“rheumatoid arthritis”. The socio-demographic, clinical, para-clinical and pharmacologicalvariables were then recorded. The analysis was performed using IBM SPSS-22.0 software.Results: Out of a total of 1364 patients, disease prevalence was estimated at 0.15%, witha mean age of 53.2 ± 13.9. The symptoms started at 41.3 ± 14.0 years old, and 81.9% werewomen. The DAS-28 (Disease Activity Score in 28 joints) mean was 3.46, and 12.9% of thepatients were smokers. Osteoporosis (32.3% of patients) and high blood pressure (32.1%) werethe most common comorbidities, while methotrexate was the most prescribed medication(98.4%).Conclusions: This is the first study in Colombia to use a large cohort in order to gather validinformation that establishes clinical characteristics, disease behavior, comorbidities, andmedication trends in the country