The burden of the rheumatic diseases in the general adult population of Greece: the ESORDIG study

OBJECTIVE: To estimate the burden of rheumatic diseases in terms of disability and health-care utilization in the Greek general adult population. METHODS: The study was conducted on the total adult population of seven communities (8547 subjects), as well as on 2100 out of 5686 randomly selected subjects in an additional two communities. Rheumatologists visited the participants at their homes to assess the prevalence of six morbidity indicators concerning disability and health-care utilization associated with rheumatic diseases or other major disease groups. RESULTS: The participation rate in the study was 82.1%. The prevalence of chronic health problems, long-term disability, short-term disability, physician office visits and prescription or non-prescription drug use due to rheumatic diseases in the total target adult population was 14.3, 4.3, 2.9, 2.8, 7.2 and 2.0%, respectively. Compared with all other major disease groups, rheumatic diseases were the most common cause of chronic health problems (38.7%), long-term disability (47.2%), short-term disability (26.2%) and physician office visits (20.5%), while they ranked second for the use of prescription (24.0%) or non-prescription drugs (17.7%). Rheumatic diseases were the main cause of morbidity in five out of six indicators in subjects aged \u3c or =65 yr. Logistic regression analysis revealed an association of female gender, age \u3e or =45 yr and obesity with almost all morbidity indicators related to rheumatic diseases. CONCLUSION: These findings suggest that rheumatic diseases constitute a major public health problem and should be considered in planning undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, research and health-care services

Late-onset systemic lupus erythematosus presenting as polymyalgia rheumatica

Two patients (male, 60 and 66 years of age) who developed systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) in the 6th decade are described. Both patients presented with a polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) syndrome. In both cases there was an underlying muscle involvement (nonspecific in the first case and true myositis in the second case) as well as findings compatible with nonclassic type of temporal arteritis. © 1989 Springer-Verlag

The burden of the rheumatic diseases in the general adult population of Greece: the ESORDIG study

Objective. To estimate the burden of rheumatic diseases in terms of disability and health-care utilization in the Greek general adult population. Methods. The study was conducted on the total adult population of seven communities (8547 subjects), as well as on 2100 out of 5686 randomly selected subjects in an additional two communities. Rheumatologists visited the participants at their homes to assess the prevalence of six morbidity indicators concerning disability and health-care utilization associated with rheumatic diseases or other major disease groups. Results. The participation rate in the study was 82.1%. The prevalence of chronic health problems, long-term disability, short-term disability, physician office visits and prescription or non-prescription drug use due to rheumatic diseases in the total target adult population was 14.3, 4.3, 2.9, 2.8, 7.2 and 2.0%, respectively. Compared with all other major disease groups, rheumatic diseases were the most common cause of chronic health problems (38.7%), long-term disability (47.2%), short-term disability (26.2%) and physician office visits (20.5%), while they ranked second for the use of prescription (24.0%) or non-prescription drugs (17.7%). Rheumatic diseases were the main cause of morbidity in five out of six indicators in subjects aged <= 65 yr. Logistic regression analysis revealed an association of female gender, age >= 45 yr and obesity with almost all morbidity indicators related to rheumatic diseases. Conclusion. These findings suggest that rheumatic diseases constitute a major public health problem and should be considered in planning undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, research and health-care services