Background: Rheumatologic diseases are the most prevalent diseases
orldwide. About one-third of physical disabilities in elderly are due to
heumatologic etiological disorders as a primary cause. They are one of the
main causes of disability and morbidity all over the world with great impact
on the quality of life.
Aim: The aim of this study was to examine the profiles of rheumatic
diseases of the admitted patients to Assiut University hospital and to
compare them with that of non-Arabic countries.
Material and Methods: Descriptive study of 939 patients with
heumatologic diseases during the period study (from January 2011 and
April 2014). Diagnosis of the patients was done after fulfilling ACR/EULAR
diagnostic criteria of each disease and required investigations were also
done for verifying related diagnosis.
Results: The total number of patients was 939, with (79.1%) female
predominance. Age ranged from 7-79 years with a mean ± SD 38 ±15.32.
Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) was presented in 36.8%, Systemic Lupus
Erythematosus (SLE) in 14.3%, Crystal Arthropathy in 11.7%, Seronegative
Spondyloarthropathy (SpA) in 10.3%, Behçet disease (BD) in 8.3%, Juvenile
Idiopathic Arthritis (JIA) in 6.4%, Systemic Sclerosis (SSc) in 5.8%, Overlap
Syndrome in 2.9%, Antiphospholipid Syndrome (APS) in 0.3% and Adult
onset Still`s Disease in 0.3%.
Conclusion: Rheumatoid arthritis was the most common rheumatologic
disease followed by Systemic Lupus Erythematosus in admitted patients
of the Rheumatology, Rehabilitation, and Physical Medicine Department,
Assiut University hospital.