Socio-Demographic Determinants in the Evolution of Spectrum of Rheumatic Diseases: A Cross-Sectional Study in a Tertiary Level Hospital in Bangladesh

Abstract

Background: The word "rheumatism" or "rheumatic disease" refers to a variety of ailments that cause persistent, frequently fluctuating pain in the joints and/or connective tissue. At least 100 diverse illnesses are included by the term "rheumatism," which does not define any one disorder. The study was created to investigate the range of rheumatic disease among patients presenting as outpatients in the Physical Medicine & Rehabilitation department of a tertiary level hospital due to the dearth of research on this topic. Objective: To find out the socio-demographic determinants in the evolution of Spectrum of Rheumatic diseases in a tertiary level hospital in Bangladesh. 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. Use of SPSS 16 was made for data analysis. Results: With a gender split of 35.7% male and 64.3% female, the mean age of the respondents was 46.3612.25 years (males were 5011.68 years old and women were 44.1912.03 years old). The majority of our respondents (31%) came from rural areas. The proportion of patients who live in urban areas and urban slum areas is nearly similar (27.6% vs. 28.6%), and the remaining 12.8% are city dwellers. Patients who were low-income were the majority (43.5%), followed by middle-class patients (36.5%) and upper-class patients (20.1%). 54.17% of cases had articular symptoms, 43.23% had degenerative joint conditions, and 10.94% had inflammatory joint disorders. Conclusion: In this tertiary care hospital, patients had arthritic conditions that were both non-inflammatory and inflammatory, had soft tissue rheumatism, had bone abnormalities, and had multi-system disorders.