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Rheumatoid arthritis in Colombia: a clinical profile and prevalence from a national registry

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Abstract

Background

There is a need to describe the demographic and clinical characteristics of people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis who are attended within the Colombian health system. This characterization allows prioritizing populations with specific risks, programming the use of health services, and planning the costs necessary to guarantee equitable care.

Objective

To assess the demographic and clinical characteristics of a cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis using national data collected by the High-Cost Disease Fund (CAC in Spanish).

Methods

A cross-sectional study from a secondary source. Data was gathered from a national administrative registry. A descriptive analysis was performed on sociodemographic and clinical characteristics. Age-standardized prevalence was estimated at national level and by geographical regions. Remission rates were also estimated for Colombian departments and regions.

Results

By 2019, 81,386 patients with rheumatoid arthritis were reported in Colombia. The relation female-male was 5.2:1. The median age was 59 years (IQR: 50–67). Prevalence was higher in people aged 50–69 years. The most frequent comorbidities were high blood pressure (31.15%) and osteoporosis (19.46%). Age-standardized prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis was 0.24 per 100 population (95% CI: 0.23–0.24). In cases with complete information, 57.57% of departments had remission rates up to 30%.

Conclusion

Rheumatoid arthritis in Colombia was more frequent in females aged ≥50 year. Age-standardized prevalence was lower than reported by other studies performed in Colombia but similar to the estimated internationally for the country.

Key Points

• More than 80,000 rheumatoid arthritis patients were reported to this national registry in Colombia in 2019, finding an age-standardized prevalence of 0.24 per 100 population.

• Hypertension was the most common comorbidity reported in people with rheumatoid arthritis. This finding is similar to the reports by similar studies such as the COMORA.

• A major strength of this study is the large sample size since data come from a nationwide registry of people with rheumatoid arthritis, supported by the National Ministry of Health. Additionally, this registry has a rigorous data monitoring process that guarantees the internal validity of data and provides valuable information for decision-making based on local evidence.

• Prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis was higher in females between 50 and 65 years. Age-standardized prevalence was lower than previously reported in Colombia, but similar to the world estimations.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the health payers and providers for their report to the High-Cost Disease Fund, as well as the technical team that ensure the data validity and quality.

Funding

The authors received no financial support for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. High-Cost Disease Fund, Bogotá D.C., Colombia

    Julieth Carolina Castillo-Cañón, Silvia Juliana Trujillo-Cáceres, Ana María Valbuena-García & Lizbeth Acuña-Merchán

  2. University Hospital Fundación Santa Fe de Bogotá, Universidad El Bosque, Bogotá D.C., Colombia

    Wilson Bautista-Molano

  3. Rheumatology Unit, Department of Internal Medicine, Hospital Universitario San Ignacio-School of Medicine, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, Bogotá D.C., Colombia

    Daniel G. Fernández-Ávila

Authors
  1. Julieth Carolina Castillo-Cañón
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Contributions

Substantial contributions to the conception or design of the work: JCCC, SJTC AMVG, LAAM. Data analysis and interpretation: JCCC, SJTC, WBM, AMVG, DGFA, LAAM. Drafting the manuscript: JCCC, SJTC, WBM, AMVG, DGFA, LAAM. Important intellectual content and final approval of the version to be published: all authors.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Julieth Carolina Castillo-Cañón.

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Ethics approval

Patients’ informed consent was not required, as the research group had no direct contact with patients given that it was a retrospective study from a national registry. All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards followed the Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments as well as national ethical standards (Resolution 8430 of 1993).

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Castillo-Cañón, J.C., Trujillo-Cáceres, S.J., Bautista-Molano, W. et al. Rheumatoid arthritis in Colombia: a clinical profile and prevalence from a national registry. Clin Rheumatol 40, 3565–3573 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-021-05710-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-021-05710-x

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