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Multicentre survey of rheumatoid arthritis patients from ministry of health rheumatology centers in Malaysia

Shahrir M 1 , Shahdan M 1 , Shahid M 1 , Sulaiman W 2 , Mokhtar AM 2 , Othman M 2 Show all authors , Rosman A 3 , Ong SG 3 , Lau IS 3 , Zain MM 3 , Yusof H 3 , Ismail A 3 , Yusof A 3 , Tan BE 3 , Chong HC 3 , Hussein H 4 , Eishwary M 4 , Shahril NA 4 , Liza MI 4 , Gun SC 5 , Loh yl 5 , De'souza b 5 , Yusof A 6

Affiliations 

  • 1 Medical Department Pusat Perubatan UKM, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 2 Medical Department, Hospital Taiping, Perak, Malaysia
  • 3 Medical Department Hospital Selayang, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
  • 4 Medical Department Hospital Putrajaya
  • 5 Medical Department Hospital Seremban, Negeri Sembilan, Malaysia
  • 6 Medical Department Hospital Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, Malaysia; Medical Department, Hospital Serdang, Selangor, Malaysia
Int J Rheum Dis, 2008;11(3):287-292.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1756-185X.2008.00379.x

Abstract

Aim: This is a rheumatoid arthritis (RA) descriptive study, the first of its kind carried out in Malaysia.
Methods: This descriptive study involved 1084 RA patients' epidemiological and clinical data taken from Selayang, Putrajaya, Taiping and Seremban hospitals from June 2004 to December 2005.
Results: One thousand and eighty-four RA patients'data were analysed; 960 (88.6%) patients were female and 124 (11.4%) were male, approximately 8 : 1 M : F ratio. The majority of the patients were Indian (591; 54.5%), followed by the Malays (340; 31.4%), Chinese (126; 11.6%), indigenous (13; 1.2%) and others (14; 1.3%). Mean age was 49.6 ± 11.8 years with the youngest being 15 years and the oldest 88 years of age. Mean age for males was 52.0 ± 12.0 and females 49.3 ± 11.7 years (P =; 0.017). Most of these patients were housewives (565; 52.1%), followed by paid workers (266; 24.5%), retired patients (80; 7.4%), unemployed (76; 7.0%) and others (97; 8.9%). Mean duration of illness was 8.4 ± 6.7 years; 805 (74.3%) patients were relatively new patients (≤ 2 years illness duration) and 279 (25.7%) patients had illness duration > 2 years. Eight hundred and six (74.4%) were seropositive RA patients and 385 (35.5%) had presence of deformity. The majority of patients were treated with methotrexate (178; 16.4%), followed by combination of methotrexate, sulfasalazine and hydroxychloroquine (143; 13.2%), leflunomide (140; 12.9%), sulfasalazine (133; 12.3%) and combination of methotrexate and sulfasalazine (108; 10%).
Conclusion: In the above study, the majority of patients were female (960; 88.6%), Indian (591; 54.5%), had a mean age of 49.6 ± 11.8 years, most were housewives with a mean duration of illness of 8.4 ± 6.7 years and were treated with methotrexate (178; 16.4%). The results of the study may help Malaysian rheumaologists to understand their patients better and treat RA holistically.
Comment in: Yeap SS. Comment on: Multicentre survey of rheumatoid arthritis patients from Ministry of Health rheumatology centres in Malaysia. Int J Rheum Dis. 2009 Jul;12(2):177-8; author reply 179. doi: 10.1111/j.1756-185X.2009.01403.x. PubMed PMID: 20374340.

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