The burden of the rheumatic diseases in the general adult population of Greece: the ESORDIG study

• Published in: Rheumatology (Oxford, England) Vol. 44; no. 7; pp. 932 - 938
• Main Authors: Andrianakos, A. A., Miyakis, S., Trontzas, P., Kaziolas, G., Christoyannis, F., Karamitsos, D., Karanikolas, G., Dantis, P.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Oxford University Press 01.07.2005; Oxford Publishing Limited (England)
• Subjects: Adult; Aged; Biological and medical sciences; Burden; Chronic Disease; Cost of Illness; Cross-Sectional Studies; Disability; Disability Evaluation; Drug addictions; Drug Prescriptions - statistics & numerical data; Drug Utilization - statistics & numerical data; Female; Greece - epidemiology; Health-care utilization; Humans; Impact; Male; Medical sciences; Metabolic diseases; Middle Aged; Musculoskeletal disorders; Obesity; Office Visits - statistics & numerical data; Prevalence; Rheumatic diseases; Rheumatic Diseases - epidemiology; Toxicology; Greece; Europe; Prognosis; Prevalence; Diseases of the osteoarticular system; Health-care utilization; Burden; Epidemiology; Disability; Adult; Rheumatism; Age; Nutritional status; Human; Impact; Musculoskeletal disorders; Obesity; Drug addiction; Nutrition disorder; Rheumatic diseases; Indicator; Morbidity; Care; Striated muscle disease; Chronic; Musculoskeletal disorder; Risk factor
• ISSN: 1462-0324; 1462-0332
• DOI: 10.1093/rheumatology/keh650

Objective. To estimate the burden of rheumatic diseases in terms of disability and health-care utilization in the Greek general adult population. Methods. The study was conducted on the total adult population of seven communities (8547 subjects), as well as on 2100 out of 5686 randomly selected subjects in an additional two communities. Rheumatologists visited the participants at their homes to assess the prevalence of six morbidity indicators concerning disability and health-care utilization associated with rheumatic diseases or other major disease groups. Results. The participation rate in the study was 82.1%. The prevalence of chronic health problems, long-term disability, short-term disability, physician office visits and prescription or non-prescription drug use due to rheumatic diseases in the total target adult population was 14.3, 4.3, 2.9, 2.8, 7.2 and 2.0%, respectively. Compared with all other major disease groups, rheumatic diseases were the most common cause of chronic health problems (38.7%), long-term disability (47.2%), short-term disability (26.2%) and physician office visits (20.5%), while they ranked second for the use of prescription (24.0%) or non-prescription drugs (17.7%). Rheumatic diseases were the main cause of morbidity in five out of six indicators in subjects aged ≤65 yr. Logistic regression analysis revealed an association of female gender, age ≥45 yr and obesity with almost all morbidity indicators related to rheumatic diseases. Conclusion. These findings suggest that rheumatic diseases constitute a major public health problem and should be considered in planning undergraduate and postgraduate medical education, research and health-care services.