title: The expression of rheumatoid arthritis in Kuwaiti patients in an outpatient hospital-based practice.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  To describe the characteristic clinical, serologic and radiological features of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Kuwaiti patients in a tertiary outpatient hospital-based practice.
  
  
  METHODS
  An outpatient hospital-based study on 100 consecutive consenting Kuwaiti patients with RA was done at the Rheumatology Unit, Al-Amiri Hospital, one of the main teaching hospitals in Kuwait. The study group included 11 men and 89 women. The duration of their disease ranged from 2 to 30 years with a mean duration of 10.7 (SD 7.5) years. The age at disease onset ranged from 21 to 71 years with a mean age of 39.1 (SD 11.2) years.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Joints most commonly involved in RA were metacarpophalangeal, wrist, knee, and proximal interphalangeal joints. Extra-articular manifestations were present in 24 patients; the most common was the sicca complex in 14 individuals. Rheumatoid factor seropositivity was found in 60 patients and erosive arthropathy in 42 patients.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The findings indicate a low incidence of radiological erosive arthropathy in Kuwaiti patients. The sicca complex was the most common extra-articular manifestation of RA in these patients.
authors.affiliation: Rheumatology Unit, Al-Amiri Hospital, Kuwait. driqbalham@hotmail.com
authors.forename: I H
authors.initials: IH
authors.lastname: Al-Salem
authors.forename: A M
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Al-Awadhi
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D017668:Age of Onset; D000368:Aged; D000740:Anemia / Q000097:blood; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000000981:diagnostic imaging / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007407:Interviews as Topic; D007596:Joints / Q000503:physiopathology*; D007730:Kuwait; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010044:Outpatient Clinics, Hospital; D011859:Radiography; D012217:Rheumatoid Factor; D013995:Time
chemical_list: D012217:Rheumatoid Factor