Clinical Characteristics and Medication Use Among Arab Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis in Some Arab States

Karim Bayoumy¹, Soha Roger Dargham¹, Wessam Elhaq¹, Samar Al Emadi², Mohammed Hammoudeh², Basel Masri³, Hussein Halabi⁴, Humeira Badsha⁵, Imad Uthman⁶, Salah Mahdy², Robert Plenge⁷, Richa Saxena⁷, Marianthi Kapiri¹ and Thurayya Arayssi⁸, ¹Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Doha, Qatar, ²Medicine, Hamad Medical Corporation, Doha, Qatar, ³Jordan Hospital, Amman, Jordan, ⁴Medicine, King Faisal Specialist Hospital and research center, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, ⁵Al Biraa Arthritis and Bone Clinic, Dubai, United Arab Emirates, ⁶Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut, Beirut, Lebanon, ⁷The Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, Program of Medical and Population Genetics, Cambridge, MA, ⁸Internal Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, Doha, Qatar

Meeting: 2015 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting

Date of first publication: September 29, 2015

Keywords: anti-CCP antibodies, medication and rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Rheumatoid Factor

Session Information

Date: Monday, November 9, 2015

Title: Rheumatoid Arthritis - Clinical Aspects Poster II

Session Type: ACR Poster Session B

Session Time: 9:00AM-11:00AM

Background/Purpose:

Data on the
clinical and genetic characteristics of Arab patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis
(RA) is limited. Our aim is to report on the clinical manifestations of the
first 844 patients recruited into “The Genetics of Rheumatoid Arthritis in some
Arab States (GRASS) study”.

Methods:

GRASS is a
multicenter case-control study that aims to study the clinical and genetic
characteristics of patients of Arab ancestry. Subjects were recruited from 5
centers in Jordan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), Lebanon, Qatar and the United
Arab Emirates (UAE). To be eligible for enrollment, subjects had to be 1) of
Arab ancestry by self-report, 2) be > 18 years of age. Cases had to be
diagnosed as per the 1987 ACR RA criteria. Controls were eligible if they did
not have RA or autoimmune disease. Ancestry, demographic, lifestyle, clinical
and treatment data was collected via an on-line questionnaire by interviewing
the subjects and retrieving information form the medical records. Ancestry was
classified into 3 categories as Gulf, Levant or North Africa, when 3 or more
grandparents were from the same region. Subjects, which did not fall under
those categories for ancestry, were classified as “Other”. Data were analyzed
using Pearson Chi Square and Fisher’s Exact
tests.

Results:

A total of 844
cases, 718 (85.1%) women and 126 men (14.9%) (F/M: 6/1), were enrolled from
June 2012 to April 2015. The most common age range of diagnosis for both
genders was 30-49(not significant when stratified by study site or ancestry,
p>0.05).

The rates of
CCP positive, RF positive, CCP/RF positive and seronegative
cases differed based on ancestry (p<0.01, excludes the UAE). CCP/RF positive
cases were the most common for all ancestries, with The Gulf (174,62.4%) and
North Africa (63,62.4%) showing an equal rate of CCP/RF positive cases followed
by “Other” (14, 50.0%) and the Levant (48.3). The Levant (77, 26.2%) and
“Other” (7, 25.0%) showed a higher rate of seronegative
cases than the Gulf (38, 13.6%) and North Africa (15, 14.9%).

Medication
use:

Conclusion:

The clinical
characteristics of RA and its medical management differ between Arabs of different
ancestries found in the Arab region. These differences must be further explored
in the context of genetic factors and the influence of GDP on medication use.

Disclosure: K. Bayoumy, None; S. Roger Dargham, None; W. Elhaq, None; S. Al Emadi, None; M. Hammoudeh, None; B. Masri, None; H. Halabi, None; H. Badsha, None; I. Uthman, None; S. Mahdy, None; R. Plenge, None; R. Saxena, None; M. Kapiri, None; T. Arayssi, None.

To cite this abstract in AMA style:

Bayoumy K, Roger Dargham S, Elhaq W, Al Emadi S, Hammoudeh M, Masri B, Halabi H, Badsha H, Uthman I, Mahdy S, Plenge R, Saxena R, Kapiri M, Arayssi T. Clinical Characteristics and Medication Use Among Arab Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis in Some Arab States [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2015; 67 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/clinical-characteristics-and-medication-use-among-arab-patients-with-rheumatoid-arthritis-in-some-arab-states/. Accessed .

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