RESUMO
Objective: To examine the demographic and socio-economic characteristics of Rheumatoid Arthritis patients (RA) attending public rheumatology clinics, South Trinidad, 2016. Design and Methodology: Design: Cross-Sectional; Interview-administered questionnaire. Settings: In 2016, the public rheumatology clinics, South Trinidad enrolled 385 adults with a confirmed diagnosis of RA. Main Outcome Measures: A score ≥ 6 on the ACR/ EULAR 2010 Classification Criteria for RA. Statistical Methods: Descriptive statistics to characterize the population in the domains of demographic and socio-economic factors. Results: 385 patients fulfilled the American College of Rheumatology / European League Against Rheumatism (ACR/EULAR) 2010 classification criteria for RA. The median age of the population was 59.0 years. The male to female ratio was 1:10.3. 324 (84.2%) were East Indians and 134 (66.7%) achieved up to a secondary school education. Most patients were seen from the urban areas: Victoria North 122 (31.7%); Caroni South 83 (21.5%) and St. Patrick East 73 (19.0%). 192 (49.9%) were unemployed. 114 (29.6%) had to stop working due to RA. Of these, 41 (10.6%) received disability assistance grants. Conclusions: Epidemiological studies on RA in the Caribbean are sparse. In South Trinidad, RA seemed to affect predominantly unemployed East Indian women, who completed up to a secondary school level of education. The independent value of each prognostic factor needs to be further evaluated. The economic impact of the burden of disease and the impact on the patients' quality of life needs to be further explored as a high percentage of RA patients had to stop working due to the disease and receive disability grants.
