Clinical assessment and health status in standard care in Indian and Iranian patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA)

Disease activity and quality of life (QOL) including functional status in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is influenced by several ethnic, cultural and other factors. Standard of care management should cater for country specific needs. Objectives To assess and compare clinical disease characteristics and health status in patients with RA from two countries, India and Iran. Material and methods A cross-sectional survey of 140 RA patients (Indian70 and Iranian70) was chosen from rheumatology outpatients (Bandar Abbas, Iran and Pune, India) in random manner. One of the authors evaluated all patients under Rheumatologist supervision. Standard evaluation was as per current American College of Rheumatology guidelines and included a 68/66 joint count and laboratory tests. Health assessment questionnaire (CRD Pune version HAQ) and SF36v2 was utilized to assess functional and health status. While Iranian patients were all Muslims, the Indian patients were predominantly Hindu. Results The groups matched well for age, gender, duration of disease and rheumatoid factor. Patients in Iran had less years of education as compared to patients from India ( p Conclusions Though there were some important differences in pain perception, joint counts and QOL, the study cohorts of RA belonging to the Iranian and Indian ethnicity were similar for disease activity (DAS) and functional status (HAQ).