Premium
Multicentre survey of rheumatoid arthritis patients from Ministry of Health Rheumatology Centers in Malaysia
Author(s) -
SHAHRIR Mohd,
SHAHDAN Mohd,
SHAHID Mohamed,
SULAIMAN W.,
MOKHTAR A. M.,
OTHMAN M.,
ROSMAN A.,
ONG S. G.,
LAU I. S.,
ZAIN M. M.,
YUSOF H.,
ISMAIL A.,
YUSOF A.,
TAN B. E.,
CHONG H. C.,
HUSSEIN H.,
EISHWARY M.,
SHAHRIL N. A.,
LIZA M. I.,
GUN S. C.,
LOH Y. L.,
DE'SOUZA B.,
YUSOF A.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
international journal of rheumatic diseases
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.795
H-Index - 41
eISSN - 1756-185X
pISSN - 1756-1841
DOI - 10.1111/j.1756-185x.2008.00379.x
Subject(s) - medicine , rheumatoid arthritis , sulfasalazine , leflunomide , hydroxychloroquine , rheumatology , methotrexate , epidemiology , christian ministry , physical therapy , pediatrics , disease , philosophy , theology , covid-19 , ulcerative colitis , infectious disease (medical specialty)
Aim: This is a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) descriptive study, the first of its kind carried out in Malaysia. Methods: This descriptive study involved 1084 RA patients’ epidemiological and clinical data taken from Selayang, Putrajaya, Taiping and Seremban hospitals from June 2004 to December 2005. Results: One thousand and eighty‐four RA patients'data were analysed; 960 (88.6%) patients were female and 124 (11.4%) were male, approximately 8 : 1 M : F ratio. The majority of the patients were Indian (591; 54.5%), followed by the Malays (340; 31.4%), Chinese (126; 11.6%), indigenous (13; 1.2%) and others (14; 1.3%). Mean age was 49.6 ± 11.8 years with the youngest being 15 years and the oldest 88 years of age. Mean age for males was 52.0 ± 12.0 and females 49.3 ± 11.7 years ( P = 0.017). Most of these patients were housewives (565; 52.1%), followed by paid workers (266; 24.5%), retired patients (80; 7.4%), unemployed (76; 7.0%) and others (97; 8.9%). Mean duration of illness was 8.4 ± 6.7 years; 805 (74.3%) patients were relatively new patients (≤ 2 years illness duration) and 279 (25.7%) patients had illness duration > 2 years. Eight hundred and six (74.4%) were seropositive RA patients and 385 (35.5%) had presence of deformity. The majority of patients were treated with methotrexate (178; 16.4%), followed by combination of methotrexate, sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroquine (143; 13.2%), leflunomide (140; 12.9%), sulfasalazine (133; 12.3%) and combination of methotrexate and sulfasalazine (108; 10%). Conclusion: In the above study, the majority of patients were female (960; 88.6%), Indian (591; 54.5%), had a mean age of 49.6 ± 11.8 years, most were housewives with a mean duration of illness of 8.4 ± 6.7 years and were treated with methotrexate (178; 16.4%). The results of the study may help Malaysian rheumaologists to understand their patients better and treat RA holistically.