[Demographic and clinical features of patients with rheumatoid arthritis in Piauí, Brazil--evaluation of 98 patients].

INTRODUCTION

Brazilian epidemiological studies on rheumatoid arthritis are scarce, mainly in the northeast; thus many data currently available originate from the international literature.

OBJECTIVES

To describe demographic, clinical and serological characteristics of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) followed-up by the same physician, in state of Piauí, Brazil.

PATIENTS AND METHODS

Data were collected between August 2010 and March 2013, in three health services of Piauí that provided health care in Rheumatology: a university-affiliated hospital, a public outpatient clinic and a private clinic.

RESULTS

The numbers represent mean ± SD or percentage: 47.5±11.03 years-old non-Caucasian woman, non-smoker (59.2%), low educational level, mean disease duration of 7.7 years ± 7.6, and major extra-articular manifestations were rheumatoid nodules (19.4%) and sicca syndrome (46.9%).

CONCLUSION

Features of rheumatoid arthritis obtained in this study are similar to those found in some national and international studies, but we observed higher female preponderance and illiteracy rate, in addition to a moderately severe erosive disease on average, with frequent sicca and other extra-articular manifestations.