KINESIOPHOBIA: FREQUENCY, ASSOCIATED FACTORS AND IMPACT ON THE LIFE QUALITY OF PARTICIPANTS WITH CHRONIC LOW BACK PAIN IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA.

OBJECTIVE: The aim: To study the frequency of kinesiophobia, the associated factors and its impact on the life quality in black Africa of participants with chronic low back pain. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Materials and methods: It was a cross-sectional, descriptive and analytical study, conducted over the period extending from March 2019 through September 2019. The study population included all black African participants with chronic low back pain who were seeking care at the rheumatology and physical medicine departments, during the study period. Pain intensity, duration of symptoms, medical history, endurance of trunk muscles, kinesiophobia index, and quality of life were assessed. We used the Visual Analog Scale (VAS) to measure pain intensity, the Shirado-Ito and Sorensen tests to assess trunk muscles endurance. The kinesiophobia index, as well as its impact on life quality were measured using the "Tampa Scale for Kinesiophobia" (TSK), and the Dallas Auto-Questionnaire (D.R.A.D) scale for spine Pain respectively. RESULTS: Results: One hundred and twenty patients were involved. Eighty-five patients (70.83%) had kinesiophobia. The factors associated with kinesiophobia included pain intensity (p = 0.0006); duration of symptoms (p = 0.027); hypertension (p = 0.03). Loss of endurance in trunk muscles, weight and gender were not found to be factors associated with kinesiophobia. Based on the DALLAS self-questionnaire, the quality of life was altered. CONCLUSION: Conclusions: Kinesiophobia was a recurrent disease. It was associated with the presence of hypertension, the intensity of pain, the duration of the low back pain with an impairment in quality of life.

Epidemiology of rheumatic diseases: a cohort of 23,550 patients in rheumatology clinics in Burkina Faso.

OBJECTIVE: The aim of this work is to study the epidemiological characteristics of rheumatic conditions in a cohort of 23,550 patients followed up in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This was a descriptive observational study on records conducted from February 2006 to December 2019 in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). All patients seen in rheumatology consultation in the city of Ouagadougou were included. The diagnosis of mechanical and degenerative osteoarthropathies was based on clinical and radiological findings; osteoarticular infection was based on clinical and biological findings. The diagnosis of gout was based on the clinical findings, uricemia, and/or the presence of sodium urate crystals in the synovial fluid on microscope. The diagnosis of rheumatoid arthritis and systemic lupus erythematosus was based on the ACR/EULAR criteria. RESULTS: In total, 23,550 patients were included in the study. These were 14,995 female patients (63.70%) and 2555 male patients (36.30%). The average age of patients was 49.61 ± 15.36 years with extremes of 9 months to 120 years. Degenerative osteoarthropathies were the most common presentation (13,377 patients; 59.35%) followed by tendinopathies (2199 patients; 9.34%); chronic inflammatory rheumatism was in third place (841 patients; 3.57%) led by rheumatoid arthritis (434 patients); 51.61% of chronic inflammatory rheumatism, systemic lupus erythematosus and ankylosing spondylitis accounted for 71 patients (0.4%) and 63 patients (0.27%), respectively. CONCLUSION: The epidemiology of rheumatic conditions is characterized by its diversity in hospital setting. The scarcity of some conditions such as systemic lupus erythematosus, psoriatic arthritis, and ankylosing spondylitis has been confirmed in this cohort. Key Points • Twenty-three thousand five hundred and fifty patients were included in the study • Rheumatoid arthritis was the most frequent (51.61%) chronic inflammatory rheumatism • Contrary to studies from Europe and America, systemic lupus seems rare in our series.