Aspectos parcelares da epidemiologia da artrite reumatóide

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease having as major manifestation the involvement of the joints and periarticular structures, which may affect connective tissue anywhere in the body, causing various systemic manifestations. Often it presents a progressive, destructive, disfiguring disease, and can cause disability. It affects 1% of the world population, all ethnicities and has a peak in the menopause and between ages 30 and 40. It is more common in females then in males by a ratio of 3 women to 1 man. The risk factors of RA are well known, like age, gender, genetics, hormonal and dietetics. With this study we attempted to estimate the prevalence of RA in a Portuguese population and to isolate risk factors and protective factors. Two populations were considered: one of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis (98 individuals each), the other population chosen at random, concerning 297 individuals who had a fixed telephone at the city of Lisbon. We found a self declared prevalence of RA from 1% to 1,3%. Most values were in agreement with previous investigations. On the other hand, some values were in opposition to several studies done before. We concluded that will be desirable to perform additional studies in this area.