Title:Insight into the Epidemiology of the Adult-onset Systemic Autoimmune
Rheumatic Diseases in Egypt: A Descriptive Study of 8690 Patients
Volume: 20
Issue: 5
Author(s): Doaa H.S. Attia*, Eman R. Mohamed, Ahmed Y. Ismaeel, Yossra A. Suliman, Nermeen H.A. Moneim and Rasha A. Abdel Noor
Affiliation:
- Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Department, Faculty of Medicine, Cairo University, Cairo, Egypt
Keywords:
Epidemiology, systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases, rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), Behçet’s disease (BD), spondyloarthropathies (SPA).
Abstract:
Background/Objective: Although systemic autoimmune rheumatic diseases (SARDs)
seem to be ubiquitous, Africa and the Middle East seem to be a remarkable exception with scarcity
of data compared with the developed countries. Furthermore, most of the studies addressed a
particular disease. This work aimed to shed light on the relative frequency and epidemiology of
the different adult-onset SARDs in Egypt.
Methods: This is a retrospective hospital-based study including six university hospitals providing
free health care services: Cairo, Alexandria, Tanta, Suez Canal, Beni-Suef and Assiut University
Hospitals. All available files for patients attending the outpatient clinics or admitted to the inpatient
departments between January 2000 and December 2021 were retrospectively reviewed. Data
about the patient’s diagnosis, gender, age at disease onset, year of disease onset and residence
were collected.
Results: The study included 8690 patients. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematosus
(SLE), Behçet’s disease (BD) and spondyloarthropathies (SPA) represented the main SARDs
in Egypt. They mainly affect young patients below the age of 40 years. RA and SLE mainly affect
females; males are mainly affected by axial SPA and BD. There is an increasing incidence of
SARDs during the study period.
Conclusion: The study revealed the high burden of SARDs in Egypt, helping better allocation of
economic resources for the management of diseases of the highest prevalence and those affecting
the young reproductive age groups. Increased public and medical staff awareness about SARDs is
recommended to help early referral of patients to rheumatologists and, hence, better estimation of
their epidemiology.
