TITLE:
Etiologies of Arthritis in Sub-Saharan Africa Rheumatology Practice
AUTHORS:
N. E. Lamini N’Soundhat, A. P. Salémo, D. C. Nkouala-Kidédé, F. E. Omboumahou Bakalé, H. Ntsiba
KEYWORDS:
Arthritis, Gout, Septic Arthritis, HIV Associated Arthritis
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Rheumatology and Autoimmune Diseases,
Vol.6 No.3,
August
5,
2016
ABSTRACT: Objective: To research distribution of etiologies modification of arthritis in Congo-Brazzaville,
twenty years after the first reports. Methods: A cross sectional study has been achieved. Medical
files of patients admitted for arthritis between 2000 and 2014, in Rheumatology department of
Brazzaville university teaching hospital have been included. Among 416 patients listed as cases of
arthritis, 201 answered to the inclusion criterias have been kept for analysis. The etiological diagnoses
were based on criterias of classification and/or diagnosis used in Rheumatology. Results:
201 patients, 110 men (54.72%) and 91 women (45.28%) were included. The sex-ratio was 1.2,
and average age was 45.5 years old (extremes: 8-86 years). Among them, 72 patients had microcrystal
arthritis. Septic arthritis and those associated with HIV constituted the second etiological
group of 60 patients and respectively, 32 were bacterial and 28 HIV associated arthritis. 58 remaining
patients had a chronic inflammatory arthritis. Etiology distribution showed that gout
was the most frequent (33.83%), followed by septic arthritis (15.92%), HIV associated arthritis
(13.93%) and rheumatoid arthritis (11.94%). In 11 patients (5.5%), etiology was unknown. Conclusion:
Three decades after the first publications in Brazzaville, the etiologies of arthritis remain
dominated in order of frequency by gout, septic arthritis and HIV associated arthritis and rheumatoid
arthritis. The frequency of indeterminate arthritis decreased significantly. Spondy-loarthropathy
and autoimmune diseases are more common diagnosis.