Etiology of Arthritis in Lomé (Togo)

Abstract

Aim: Determine the frequency and respective proportion of the various etiological forms of arthritis in Lomé (Togo). Patients and Methods: Transversal study carried out over 15 years on files of arthritis infected patients and submitted to rheumatologic consultation. Results: 1081 out of 13,517 patients examined (8%) were suffering from arthritis. Those 1081 patients (456 women, 42.2% and 625 men, 57.8%) were in average 38 years old and enjoyed an average duration of evolution of three years. The chronic inflammatory rheumatisms (CIR) (602 cases, 56.9%), the metabolic arthropathies (233 cases, 22%) and the infections (198 cases, 16.6%), were the main etiologies that were observed. The average age of 198 patients with infectious arthritis was 36 years and the average duration of 9 months. Infectious arthritis was preferably located at the knee (34.3%), and was essentially caused by a banal germ (157 patients; 79.3%) and associated with HIV in 25 patients (15.9%). The remaining 233 patients (9 women, and 224 men) suffering from metabolic arthritis were in average 52 years old and enjoyed an average duration of evolution of five years. The chronic inflammatory rheumatisms were mainly represented by spondyloarthropathies (90 cases, 14.9%) and the arthritis rheumatoid (64 cases, 10.6%). 399 out of 602 cases of the CIR were not classified while 52 cases were associated with HIV. The connective tissue diseases were dominated by the polymyositis (9 cases, 18.7%). Conclusion: The chronic inflammatory rheumatisms were the first causal form of arthritis in rheumatologic consultation in Lomé.

White tumor of the wrist: A rare localization of tuberculosis

“…This scarcity is even more striking in our context, as skeletal tuberculosis is frequent in Africa [8,9]. Thus, none of the 41 cases with OAT from Togo [13,14] and 18 patients from Congo [10] had a carpal location. One case was reported from Madagascar [15].…”

Etiologies of Arthritis in Sub-Saharan Africa Rheumatology Practice

“…This work treats the hospitable frequency of arthritis in sub-saharan Africa practice. It is added to the previous studies led in the same methodological conditions, mainly in Brazzaville (Congo) [9], in Yaoundé (Cameroon) [1] and in Lomé (Togo) [10]. In doing so, it allows them to assess trends in three decades.…”

“…The main observation is the reduction of cases number of indeterminate arthritis. These varied from 21.82% in Brazzaville [3] to 36.91% in Lomé [10] within the arthritis all disconcerted etiologies. These unknown arthritis etiologies represented 37.14% of cases of chronic arthritis in Lomé [11] and 17.5% of oligoarthritis in Brazzaville [12].…”

“…The gout remains the first cause of arthritis in tropical Africa [6] [14] [15], equatorial [4] [10] and southern [16]. In sub-Saharan hospitable practice, the chronic polyarticular presentation is more frequent, essentially revealing a long delay of diagnosis or management [10] [15], joining So, Busso et al preoccupation for the necessity of physicians and patients information and education [17].…”

“…As for the spondyloarthropathies, initially well-known rare because of the absence of HLA B27 antigen in the melanoderm group, prove to be frequent enough [11] [36]. They occupy the second place within the chronic inflammatory rheumatisms [10]. The ankylosing spondylitis is rare; in three decades, only four cases have been related in Brazzaville [37].…”