High Prevalence Of Rheumatic Disease Research Articles

Degenerative or rheumatic: after all, what is the most prevalent etiology of mitral regurgitation in developing countries?

Abstract Introduction Mitral regurgitation (MR) is the most prevalent valve disease in Europe, mostly degenerative. In Brazil, on the other hand, there are few recent epidemiological data and previous studies show a higher prevalence of rheumatic disease. However, a change in the epidemiological profile of valve disease has recently been observed, largely due to the increase in life expectancy and decrease in the incidence of rheumatic fever. This study aims to evaluate patients with MR in a tertiary hospital in Brazil, emphasizing the etiological analysis. Methods Patients with moderate or severe MR on echocardiogram performed between 07/01/2018 and 06/30/2020 in a Brazilian Cardiology hospital were retrospectively evaluated, including 2,017 cases. Clinical data (age, sex, symptoms and comorbidities) were analyzed, in addition to complementary tests, such as electrocardiogram and echocardiogram. Results A total of 2,017 cases were included, of which 1,966 (97.5%) had severe MR. The mean age was 65 years and 52% were female. In this cohort, 924 patients (45.8%) had primary MR, while 1093 (54.2%) had secondary causes. Among the primary etiologies (N=1093), degenerative was the most prevalent, responding to 51.3% (n=474), followed by rheumatic disease, present in 34.5% of the patients (n=319). The other primary etiologies observed were calcific (94 patients = 4.7%), infective endocarditis (15 patients = 0.7%) and congenital (10 patients = 0.5%). In the comparative analysis between degenerative and rheumatic MR, a statistically significant difference was observed in age and gender. Patients diagnosed with rheumatic MR were younger - mean age: 58 years (standard deviation 49-68) compared to 67 years in patients with degenerative mitral disease (standard deviation 58-76 years). Most patients with rheumatic disease were female (N=255, 79.9%), with percentages almost twice as high as those observed in degenerative MR (N=192 - 40.5%). Secondary causes (N=1,093) were composed of dilated etiology in 859 patients (78.6%), ischemic (140 patients - 12.8%) and atrial functional (55 patients - 5%). Conclusion In agreement with the current epidemiological change in valvular heart disease, we could also observe an important change in the etiology of MR in Brazil, with a reduction in the burden of rheumatic disease and greater expressiveness of mitral prolapse.

УДОВЛЕТВОРЕННОСТЬ ПАЦИЕНТОВ АМБУЛАТОРНО-ПОЛИКЛИНИЧЕСКОЙ МЕДИЦИНСКОЙ ПОМОЩЬЮ ПО ПРОФИЛЮ «РЕВМАТОЛОГИЯ» В РЕСПУБЛИКЕ БАШКОРТОСТАН

Due to high prevalence of rheumatic diseases, which are often characterized by a chronic, progressive course and early patient disability, the problem of health care quality in rheumatology remains extremely relevant. The purpose of the study was to analyze patient satisfaction with availability and quality of rheumatological outpatient care provided by health care facilities of the Republic of Bashkortostan. A survey of 289 adult patients who visited a rheumatologist for outpatient care at health care facilities of the Republic of Bashkortostan was conducted from May,1 to December,1, 2019 The study results show that in general patients expressed high satisfaction with the services provided and conditions of health care facilities (77% and 78%, respectively). At the same time, satisfaction with doctors’ professional skills was moderate (54%), while satisfaction with the organization of making a rheumatological appointment and official website of the facility was low (37% and 29%, respectively). In general, the data obtained indicate that patients highly appreciate quality of rheumatological outpatient care in the Republic of Bashkortostan. However, the need to further improve professional competencies of doctors, organization of scheduling appointments and official websites of health care facilities call for a special attention.

LARS study: Latin American rheumatologist survey.

Latin America has scarce information related to rheumatologist's education, working conditions, productivity, and job satisfaction. The purpose of this survey was to describe the training and clinical practice characteristics of the rheumatology community in Latin America. This is a cross-sectional study. A digital survey was created, approved, and endorsed by the scientific committee of the Pan-American League of Associations for Rheumatology (PANLAR) and later sent to the rheumatology associations of the region. The data was analyzed in the statistical program SPSS v.22. We included 600 surveys of rheumatologists from 19 Latin American countries. The majority were females (53%) and mestizos (58%). The mean age was 46.8 ± 11.7years. The most frequent workplace was public/government hospitals 33.5% followed by private practice 28.8%, private hospital 20.8%, and university hospital 15.5%. The average number of weekly working hours was 37.8 ± 17.7. 87.5% worked in adult rheumatology, 12.7% pediatric rheumatology, and 23.5% internal medicine. Average satisfaction with practice as a rheumatologist was 5.3/7, career options 4.3/7, location 4.7/7, income 3.5/7, job security 3.7/7, and colleagues and co-workers 4.5/7. Finally, 69.7% had an annual compensation of < 50,000 US dollars. The majority of the rheumatologists in the region who responded were women, worked in public hospitals, and were satisfied with their clinical practice. There was a low level of income for the region. Key Points • This is the first study that showed the demographic and clinical practice characteristics of rheumatologists in Latin America. • The challenges faced by Latin rheumatologists are like those faced by the region: ethnic diversity, gender differences, migration, difficult access to education, limited research, and low income. • Due to the high prevalence of rheumatic diseases and the shortage of professionals in this area, it is essential to analyze the current workforce and the projections of supply and demand in rheumatology that are expected in the future.

Environmental factors modulated ancient mitochondrial DNA variability and the prevalence of rheumatic diseases in the Basque Country

Among the factors that would explain the distribution of mitochondrial lineages in Europe, climate and diseases may have played an important role. A possible explanation lies in the nature of the mitochondrion, in which the energy generation process produces reactive oxygen species that may influence the development of different diseases. The present study is focused on the medieval necropolis of San Miguel de Ereñozar (13th–16th centuries, Basque Country), whose inhabitants presented a high prevalence of rheumatic diseases and lived during the Little Ice Age (LIA). Our results indicate a close relationship between rheumatic diseases and mitochondrial haplogroup H, and specifically between spondyloarthropathies and sub-haplogroup H2. One possible explanation may be the climate change that took place in the LIA that favoured those haplogroups that were more energy-efficient, such as haplogroup H, to endure lower temperatures and food shortage. However, it had a biological trade-off: the increased risk of developing rheumatic diseases.

The impact of different rheumatic diseases on health-related quality of life: a comparison with a selected sample of healthy individuals using SF-36 questionnaire, EQ-5D and SF-6D utility values.

Background: Given the high prevalence of rheumatic diseases, there is a need to determine which conditions have the greatest impact on health-related quality of life (HRQoL). The main aim of this study was to explore the HRQoL scores among 14 different rheumatic diseases and to compare them with the results of a selecting sample of healthy controls. Methods: 2633 patients of an ongoing cohort have been enrolled. Rheumatic diseases were classified into five diagnostic groups: inflammatory rheumatic diseases, connective tissue disorders, symptomatic peripheral osteoarthritis, soft tissue disorders, and osteoporosis. For comparison were used 649 healthy controls. The HRQoL was evaluated with the Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36), the EuroQol five Dimensions (EQ-5D) questionnaire, and the Short-Form six Dimensions (SF-6D) questionnaire. Results: The five major rheumatic disease groups, compared to healthy people, significantly impaired all eight health concepts of the SF-36 (p <0.0001). Similar results were found for EQ-5D and SF-6D. The patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases have poorer self-reported health status than those without arthritis in all domains of living, but particularly with respect to scales measuring aspects of physical functioning or mobility, role limitation due to physical health problems and usual activities, and bodily pain. Rheumatoid arthritis had the largest negative impact on HRQoL, followed by fibromyalgia, vertebral fractures due to osteoporosis, hip osteoarthritis, and systemic sclerosis. Conclusions: Our results indicate that rheumatic diseases have a clearly detrimental effect on the HRQoL, and physical domain is more impaired than mental and social ones. (www.actabiomedica.it)

Overview of Rheumatic Diseases in the Elderly: The FIBRA Study

Introduction: The high prevalence of rheumatic diseases and the countless adverse effects caused in the individual make them a great challenge forgovernments and healthcare systems worldwide. Objective: To assess the prevalence of rheumatic diseases in the elderly and their relationship with somebiopsychosocial variables. Method: This is a cross-sectional population-based study whose data were obtained from the FIBRA Study electronic database,developed in the 2008-2009 period and involving 2,593 individuals older than 65 years who lived in urban areas. Results: We found that rheumaticdiseases have a prevalence of 43.5% in the elderly sample, with mean age of 72.3 years old and predominance of females. The biopsychosocial variablesmore strongly associated with rheumatic diseases were: chronic diseases (52.1%); depressive symptoms (56.7%); regular (48.5%), poor or very poor (52.3%) health self-evaluation; report of one (49.7%) or more (62.7%) cases of falls; and obesity (57.0%). Conclusion: We found a high prevalence of rheumatic diseases in the elderly population and a close relationship of these with the individual’s biopsychosocial variables, and given the world population ageing, the scenario is worsened in the public healthcare and thus strategies for prevention and early treatment of these diseases should be implemented urgently.

Is there a difference between women and men in characteristics and outcome after in hospital cardiac arrest?

Aim: To describe the characteristics and outcome among patients suffering from an in-hospital cardiac arrest in women and men. Methods: All patients who suffered an in-hospital cardiac arrest during a 4 year period in Sahlgrenska Hospital Göteborg, Sweden, where the cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) team was called, were recorded and described prospectively in terms of characteristics and outcome. Results: There were 557 patients suffering in-hospital cardiac arrest in whom the CPR-team was alerted. Among them, 217 (39%) were women. Women differed from men having a lower prevalence of earlier myocardial infarction, angina pectoris, renal disease and a higher prevalence of rheumatic disease. In terms of aetiology of the cardiac arrest, 47% men and 48% women were judged to have had a confirmed or possible AMI. More men than women were found in ventricular fibrillation/ventricular tachycardia (VF/VT) (57 vs. 41%; P<0.001), whereas more women were found in pulseless electrical activity (30 vs. 15%; P<0.0001). Cerebral performance categories (CPC)-score at discharge did not differ between men and women. Among women, 36.4% survived to discharge as compared with 38.0% among men (NS). Survival from VF/VT was 64.3% in women and 52.7% in men (NS). When correcting for dissimilarities at baseline, the adjusted odd ratio for being discharged alive from hospital among women as compared with men was 1.66 (95% confidence limit 1.06–2.62; P=0.028). Conclusion: Thirty nine percent of patients suffering in-hospital cardiac arrest for whom the CPR-team was alerted, were women. Women were less frequently found in VF/VT than men. After correcting for dissimilarities at baseline, female gender was associated with a small improvement in survival.

Surgical pathology of valve disease in the elderly

Since age is no longer considered an additional risk factor for cardiac surgery, the epidemiology of valve disease in the elderly at present may be estimated from the surgical pathology evaluation of valve specimens which are resected at the time of valve replacement. In the time interval 1991-1993, 500 patients underwent native cardiac valve replacement or repair at our University, with a total of 549 valves available for gross and histological examination. Single valve surgery was performed in 451 patients (300 aortic, 148 mitral, 3 tricuspid), and double valve replacement in 49 (47 mitral-aortic, 1 aorto-tricuspid and 1 mitral-tricuspid). Two hundred and eighteen patients (44%) were older than 65 years; the mean age was 70.4 +/- 4.3 years, and the male to female ratio was 0.9 to 1. Two-thirds of the interventions in the elderly group were aortic operations. However, regardless of the age group, 50 and 60% of the cases with respectively aortic and mitral valve disease were due to rheumatic disease. Age-related degenerative valve diseases were prominent; senile dystrophic calcification with aortic stenosis mostly in the elderly, anuloaortic ectasia with aortic incompetence mostly in adults, and floppy valve with mitral incompetence in both age groups. Bicuspid aortic valve, a congenital anomaly which is silent until adulthood, accounted for both aortic stenosis and stenoincompetence by dystrophic calcification, and pure aortic incompetence by endocarditis or anuloaortic ectasia. Our findings suggest that although age-related degenerative valve diseases are increasing, rheumatic disease still remains the leading cause of valve dysfunction in our country even in the elderly. These data may have an impact on prevention strategies and health-care costs. However, it has to be pointed out that the high prevalence of rheumatic disease is a feature of this particular study but is different from the findings of other studies around the world.

Nonsteroidal Antiinflammatory Drugs — Differences and Similarities

John A. Oates, M.D., Editor Alastair J.J. Wood, M.D., Associate Editor THE nonsteroidal antiinflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) are very commonly prescribed. This fact reflects the high prevalence of rheumatic diseases; approximately 8 percent of people have a rheumatic symptom at any one time. In 1984, it was estimated that nearly one in seven Americans was treated with an NSAID,1 and in 1986 100 million prescriptions were written for these drugs.2 During the past 30 years, there has been a substantial increase in the number of NSAIDs, but their availability varies markedly between countries.3 In the United States, at least until recently, . . .