The expression of rheumatoid arthritis in Kuwaiti patients in an outpatient hospital-based practice

To describe the characteristic clinical, serologic and radiological features of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Kuwaiti patients in a tertiary outpatient hospital-based practice.

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.

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.

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.