Spectrum of Rheumatic Disease in Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Department in a Tertiary Level Hospital in Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: An umbrella term encompassing diseases that damage the joints and/or connective tissue and cause chronic, frequently intermittent discomfort is rheumatism. Rheumatism is a general term that refers to at least 100 distinct diseases and disorders. Given the dearth of research on this subject, the study's goal was to investigate the range of rheumatic disease among patients presenting as outpatients in the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation department of a tertiary level hospital. Objective: To evaluate the spectrum of rheumatic disease in a tertiary level hospital in Bangladesh. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was carried out at the Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation department of the DMCH for six months. The study sought to enroll patients who had musculoskeletal problems or systemic symptoms that would indicate rheumatic illness. After meeting the requirements, patients were accepted. Each respondent provided written informed consent, and those who refused to engage in the study or undertake additional research were not included. By conducting a face-to-face interview with the respondents and utilizing a pre-tested semi-structured questionnaire, information about the respondents' socio-demographic characteristics, disease duration, clinical symptoms and signs, and investigations report was gathered. Data analysis was done in SPSS-16. Results: Mean age of respondents was 46.36±12.25 years (male= 50±11.68 years and female= 44.19±12.03 years [age range 21-70 years] with 35.7% male and 64.3% female. Around 54.17% of the cases presented with articular symptoms, 43.23% of the patients had degenerative and 10.94% had inflammatory joint diseases. Among the inflammatory arthritis, (38.09%) rheumatoid arthritis and (30.95%) Ankylosing spondylitis was most common whereas (28.92%) lumbar spondylosis and peripheral (28.31%) osteoarthrosis were predominating among non-inflammatory arthritis. Nonspecific back pain was the commonest (60.12%) of specific disorders included in soft tissue rheumatism, followed by (25.77%) adhesive capsulitis of shoulder. Conclusion: Articular disorders both non-inflammatory & Inflammatory, soft tissue rheumatism, disorder of bone and multi-system disorders; these four types of disorder were encountered in this tertiary care hospital.