Epidemiological and serological studies on rheumatoid arthritis

Back ground: Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is an inflammatory, autoimmune disease that causes pain, joint stiffness especially in the morning and loss of function. Although there are many forms of arthritis, of those commonly known, rheumatoid arthritis is the most serious and the second most common (after osteoarthritis). It can occur at any age but is more common in persons over the age of 30 years and affects women more often than men. It currently effects about 1-2% people worldwide. In India the prevalence of RA is approximately 0.75 - 1%. Very few studies have been focused on risk factors of RA in Andhra Pradesh therefore the aim of the present study was to find out the genetic and non-genetic factors responsible for the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis in Andhra Pradesh. Methods: The study includes 125 RA patients and 110 normal age and sex matched individuals as controls from Eluru, West Godavari district. The epidemiological data was taken from the study and control groups in a pre-designed questionnaire and analyzed by online free calculator (quantpsy.org.). Results: In the present study age, gender, occupation, economic status, area of living, food habits, smoking, tobacco chewing, alcohol consumption, family history, height and weight shows association with RA, whereas community, religion, education, age of onset, symptoms, other abnormalities, treatment type, Body Mass Index (BMI), physical condition, ABO blood groups and Rh blood groups does not shows any association with RA. Conclusions: To conclude with, the results of the present study were in agreement with the literature in the field.