Prevalence and clinical characteristics of rheumatoid arthritis in Poland: a nationwide study
Introduction There are no reliable data regarding the prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Poland. Material and methods The first stage was a face-to-face survey on a nationwide representative sample of 3000 people, which identified respondents with a physician-confirmed diagnosis of RA. The...
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| Autores principales: | , , , , , , |
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| Formato: | article |
| Lenguaje: | EN |
| Publicado: |
Termedia Publishing House
2018
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| Materias: | |
| Acceso en línea: | https://doaj.org/article/c69b933a32e34869b94e689e6feb3afb |
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| Sumario: | Introduction
There are no reliable data regarding the prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Poland.
Material and methods
The first stage was a face-to-face survey on a nationwide representative sample of 3000 people, which identified respondents with a physician-confirmed diagnosis of RA. The second stage was a survey of RA patients, which characterized the disease course and treatment. It was evaluated by analysis of a representative group of 1957 RA patients in routine clinical practice.
Results
The overall RA prevalence in Poland was 0.9% (95% CI: 0.6–1.2%), 1.06% for women, 0.74% for men. Seventy-eight percent were female, mean age was 56 and mean disease duration 7 years. Younger patients ( 5.1). Presently, low disease activity (DAS-28 < 3.2) was found in 38.5% of patients. In Poland, 94% of patients have been treated with non-steroid anti-inflammatory drugs, almost 80% with glucocorticoids. Meanwhile, methotrexate, as an anchor drug in Poland, has been used by 80% of patients, biological agents by 2.94% of patients.
Conclusions
This is the first cross-sectional population-based epidemiological study regarding prevalence of RA in the adult Polish population. The results demonstrate a high prevalence, falling within the upper boundary estimates for Europe. Despite ongoing treatment, the majority still have moderate to high disease activity, and the use of biological therapies is low. |
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