Al-Mehmadi Bader A, Alelaiwi May Musaad M, Alnumayr Haya Sulaiman A, Alghamdi Basil Saeed, Alomari Bandar Abdullah, Alzahrani Hayat Saleh
Department of Internal Medicine, College of Medicine, Majmaah University, Al-Majmaah, 11952, Saudi Arabia.
College of Medicine, Majmaah University, Al-Majmaah, Saudi Arabia.
Patient Prefer Adherence. 2024 Mar 8;18:635-647. doi: 10.2147/PPA.S448999. eCollection 2024.
The aim of this study is to determine the general population's knowledge on the different symptoms of rheumatic diseases, the key factors for diagnosis delays from the patient's perspective, the length of delay from the onset of symptoms to the diagnosis, and the effect this holds on the disease activity, response to therapy, and the development of complications and nonreversible deformities in patients diagnosed with rheumatic diseases.
This is a cross-sectional study. Our target study population were the residents of Saudi Arabia. Data were collected via an online questionnaire and analyzed with SPSS.
The overall prevalence of rheumatic disease in our cohort was 8.7%. Joint pain (75.7%), joint swelling (47.1%) and morning stiffness (32.9%) were the first and most common presenting symptom. Persistence of symptoms (N=32, 45.7%) and symptom worsening (N=21, 30.0%) was the predominant cause to visit rheumatologist. The duration between first symptom and rheumatic disease diagnosis is significantly longer for patients aged <50 years compared to that of those with ≥50 years of age. Results show that 36.4% of patients aged ≥50 years had delayed diagnosis due to late appointment compared with 5.7% of patients aged <50 years. In addition, patients with longer duration of symptoms were likely to have more visits to the rheumatologist. Most of the participants of <50 years significantly agreed that rheumatologists treat autoimmune diseases, only a few approved that they treat muscle problems.
Most participants in our study have lesser knowledge about their symptoms and they did not know where to consult for the treatment of their disease. This caused unnecessary delays and worsening and aggravation of the symptoms. There is an increased need to organize an awareness campaign in the general population regarding autoimmune and rheumatic diseases.
本研究旨在确定普通人群对风湿性疾病不同症状的了解程度、从患者角度看诊断延迟的关键因素、从症状出现到诊断的延迟时长，以及这对已诊断为风湿性疾病患者的疾病活动、治疗反应、并发症发生和不可逆畸形发展的影响。
这是一项横断面研究。我们的目标研究人群是沙特阿拉伯的居民。通过在线问卷收集数据，并使用SPSS进行分析。
我们队列中风湿性疾病的总体患病率为8.7%。关节疼痛（75.7%）、关节肿胀（47.1%）和晨僵（32.9%）是首要且最常见的首发症状。症状持续（n = 32，45.7%）和症状加重（n = 21，30.0%）是去看风湿病专家的主要原因。与年龄≥50岁的患者相比，年龄<50岁的患者从首次出现症状到风湿性疾病诊断的时间显著更长。结果显示，年龄≥50岁的患者中有36.4%因预约晚而诊断延迟，相比之下，年龄<50岁的患者中这一比例为5.7%。此外，症状持续时间较长的患者看风湿病专家的次数可能更多。年龄<50岁的大多数参与者显著认同风湿病专家治疗自身免疫性疾病，只有少数人认可他们治疗肌肉问题。
我们研究中的大多数参与者对自身症状了解较少，且不知道去哪里咨询疾病治疗。这导致了不必要的延迟以及症状的恶化和加重。在普通人群中开展关于自身免疫性和风湿性疾病的宣传活动的需求日益增加。
