SPECTRUM OF RHEUMATIC DISEASE IN KASHMIR VALLEY, NORTHERN INDIA

Abstract

Background: Rheumatology is one of the new branches of internal medicine which appears to have been around for not more than 55 - 60 years .The 1990s were a time of new awareness of the subtleties of rheumatic diseases and how, with closed inspection, different syndromes could be separated out from what seemed initially to be the same basic disease. So the classification of the inflammatory rheumatic disorders is quite challenging. One fifth of Indian population suffers from some form of musculoskeletal pain disorder.5 million people in India suffer from Rheumatoid Arthritis. Data on the prevalence of arthritis and rheumatic diseases are necessary background information to understand the burden of disease and the potential need for health care for people with these diseases.

Material and Methods: The study was conducted at Sher-i-Kashmir institute of Medical sciences, Soura Srinagar (J&K), India in total number of 1738 subjects.  All ethical considerations were taken care of during the study and the recruitment process was started only after ethical clearance from the Institutional Ethical Committee as per norms and all the individuals gave their informed consent to participate in the study. The informed consent taken in local language. 

Results: The total number of patients in our study was 1738. The mean age of our patients was 40.25 ±14.178 years. The was a predominance of female patients in our study. Rheumatic diseases were seen to be more prevalent in rural patients than urban patients in our study. Rheumatoid arthritis was the most common rheumatic disease in our study.

Conclusion: This study provides an estimate of the prevalence of various rheumatic diseases in a tertiary care institute. The data obtained from this study on the prevalence of arthritis and rheumatic diseases are necessary background information to understand the burden of disease and the potential need for health care for people with these diseases.

Keywords: Rheumatic diseases, prevalence, burdan