<p>Clinicodemographic Profiles of Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients from a Single Center in Saudi Arabia</p>

Abstract

Purpose: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), if left untreated, can lead to joint damage and deformity, disability, and even death. Hence, early diagnosis and management are essential to improve clinical and functional outcomes. This study aimed to identify the most common variables and risk factors related to RA activity among patients living in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Patients and Methods: This study was conducted between January 2018 and March 2019 on consecutive patients diagnosed with RA at a tertiary care hospital in KSA. Adult patients (≥18 years old) diagnosed with RA based on the American College of Rheumatology 2010 criteria were recruited. The Disease Activity Score-28 for Rheumatoid Arthritis with CRP (DAS28-CRP) and health assessment questionnaire disability index (HAQ-DI) were calculated for 75 patients attending the rheumatology clinic during the study period to evaluate the rate of remission and functional capacity, and to compare findings with other local studies after assessing the relationship of these factors with medication use and existing comorbidities. Results: The majority of the 75 patients were female (n=64), with a mean age of 49.7 years and average disease duration of 130 days. The median HAQ-DI was less than 0.5 (range 0-1.95). The DAS28-CRP scores revealed moderate disease activity in 45.3% and low disease or remission in 38.6% of the patients. Many patients (45.3%) were treated with methotrexate, and the most commonly used biological treatment was adalimumab in 14.6%. Comorbidities included hypertension (26.7%) and diabetes mellitus (18.7%). There was a strong association between cardiovascular diseases and a high DAS28-CRP score (p < 0.001). Conclusion: A higher RA activity rate was observed. This may be related to difficultly accessing rheumatology clinics in our facility and financial difficulties accessing biological treatments.

Demographic and Clinical Characteristics of Patients with Sustained and Switching Treatments Using Biological and Targeted Synthetic Disease-Modifying Antirheumatic Drugs: A Multicenter, Observational Cross-Sectional Study for Rheumatoid Arthritis

“…The remission rates based on the DAS28-CRP in the large-scale studies of RA are approximately 40%, contrary to higher rates reported by others [11,17,25,32]. We found that 35.5% of all patients had disease remission.…”

“…The scores of DAS28-ESR and DAS-CRP < 2.6 according to the EULAR criteria were regarded as remission [ 3 , 17 ]. Disease activity was defined as low (≤ 3.2), moderate (between < 3.2 and ≤ 5.1), or high (> 5.1) based on the scores DAS28-ESR and DAS-CRP [ 3 ].…”

Patterns of Response to Different Treatment Strategies in Seropositive Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients in a Tertiary Hospital in South‐Western Saudi Arabia: A Retrospective Study

“…Our results are in line with the previously mentioned studies regarding demographics of RA patients in our region. 9 , 10 However, our findings suggest that none of these diseases were associated with the failure of csDMARDs.…”

“…With regard to participants' demographics, the mean age of cases was 41.6 ± 11.7 years, with predominance of females (88.2%), which is similar to the findings in previously published demographics of RA patients in Saudi Arabia and Arabic population. [8][9][10] Our patients have longstanding diseases ranging from 1 to 40 years.…”

“…Moreover, our administration of biological treatment was higher than that in similar studies conducted in our country. That is, in a Saudi private hospital, the use of biologics was at 30%, and in another tertiary care hospital, it was at 26%, 10,20 while we administered at about 54%. That is mainly because all our cases are seropositive RA, whereas roughly 40% of the cases in the mentioned studies were seronegative.…”