Arthritis in Jamaica - abstract

ABSTRACT

Presented are data on 241 patients who attended the Rheumatology Clinic U.H.W.I. over a 5-month period. Two hundred and eight (86 percent) of the patients were female. The ages ranged from 7 to 87 years (mean 41 years). Seventy-eight (32 percent) had rheumatoid arthritis. Their mean age was 47 years (range 18-84 years). Only 2 patients were male. Twenty-one (27 percent) were negative for the rheumatoid factor, and 7 (9 percent) had anti-nuclear antibodies. Twenty-seven patients (11 percent), all female, were diagnosed as having systemic lupus erythematosus. Their mean age was 30 years (range 10-50 years). Two patients were consistently negative for anti-nuclear antibodies. Other diseases frequently diagnosed were degenerative joint disease in 26, juvenile rheumatoid arthritis in 12, mixed connective tissue disease in 8, spondylitis in 7. Forty-one patients were seen with arthralgia and/or myalgia without evidence of an inflammatory process (AU)