Relación entre la duración de la enfermedad y características clínicas de pacientes con Artritis Reumatoide en dos centros de referencia

Abstract

Introduction: There are differences between patients with early and established rheumatoid arthritis (RA) that can condition quality of life and prognosis of the disease. Material and methods: Descriptive, cross-sectional study in a cohort of RA patients with regular follow-up visits in two third-level hospitals. A questionnaire with epidemiological, clinical, laboratory and radiographic variables was completed, in addition to physical examination. Patients were divided into 3 groups: 0 to 12 months, 13 to 60 months and more than 60 months of disease duration. Results: 330 patients were included, with mean disease duration of 108.19±91.17 months. Patients with less than 12 months of disease duration have a BMI of less than 25 more frequently (50% vs. 24.9%, p 0.037), they also have a higher average SJC (3.20±3.6 vs. 1.64±2.7, p 0.034), TJC (3.53±4.13 vs. 1.7±2.77, p 0.015) and pain VAS (28.93±30.14 vs. 15.09 ± 19.79, p 0.011). Meanwhile, patients with more than 60 months disease duration are older (53.08±12 vs. 48.23±14, p 0.002), have a higher incidence of erosions (39% vs. 21%, p 0.004) and osteoporosis (23.5% vs. 12.9%, p 0.023) and a lower average TJC (1.49±2.5 vs. 2.28±3.3, p 0.018). Conclusion: Patients with shorter disease duration have higher average activity indexes. Patients with longer disease duration have a higher frequency of erosive disease and osteoporosis but lower average tender joint counts.