Rheumatoid Arthritis –First Charac-teristic of the Group of Patients of the National Register of the Rheumatic Diseases

Overview

Objective .
Analyze demographic data and basic clinical and laboratoryx parameters of a group of549 patients with rheumatoid arthritis assembled within the framework of the National register ofrheumatological diseases.Patients and methods .The investigation comprises patients who meet thecriteria of the American College of Rheumatology for rheumatoid arthritis with emphasis on theearly stage of the disease.X-ray pictures were taken,the clinical condition was evaluated accordingto the articular index DAS,visual analogue scale of pain and the general condition,anamnestic andclinical data were assessed by means of a questionnaire.For evaluation of the functional capacitythe HAQquestionnaire was used.For statistical processing of data Wilcoxon ’s double selection ordertest,Pearson ’s χ 2 test,Fisher ’s exact test and McNemara ’s symmetry test were used.Results .Astodiagnostic criteria of rheumatoid arthritis the clinical criteria are most frequent.Between groupsof patients who developed the disease in middle or advanced age no difference was found in clinicalparameters of the development of the disease.From the aspect of activity of the disease there is nodifference between groups with a positive rheumatoid factor and positivity of antinuclear antibo-dies when compared with groups where with negativy of these parameters.The incidence ofsubluxation of the cervical spine,the most serious skeletal manifestation of the disease was recordedin 17.2 %of the investigated group.Pharmacotherapeutic data confirm a shift towards modernformsof treatment.Conclusion .The data indicate that rheumatoid arthritis is a disease predominantly ofmiddle age.They do not confirm the presence of clinical subsets of the disease which depend on ageand positivity of rheumatoid factors.The ratio of affections of the cervical spine in patients issignificant and deserves to become the object of screening in out-patient practice.

Key words:
rheumatoid arthritis,demographic data,epidemiological investigations,treatment ofrheumatoid arthritis