The prevalence of Rheumatoid arthritis on female patients of child-bearing age at University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Rivers State, Nigeria

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most commonly diagnosed systemic inflammatory disease that can affect multiple joints of the body. RA affects women 2-3 times more than men. Pregnancy has been reported to have an ameliorating effect on the course of existing RA and the flare-up of disease activity in the postpartum period. This study was carried out on two hundred and forty (240) female patients of child bearing age after obtaining an ethical approval from the Ethical Committee of University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital. 5ml of blood samples were drawn from the ante-cubital fossa of each woman with 5ml syringe and needle, between 8am to 11am each day. The samples were sent to the laboratory for analysis. The Latex Slide Test kit used for the serological analysis contains both the positive and negative control. The result obtained was compared with both the positive and negative control. Twelve (12) of the samples tested positive for the Rheumatoid Factor during the qualitative analysis, while the remaining two hundred and twenty-eight (228) tested negative. All positive results from the qualitative analysis tested positive when the test control was carried out, likewise the negative results which were all negative for the test control. The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in female patients of child bearing age for this study was calculated to be 5% which was 4% higher than the world prevalence, estimated to be 1%. The relevance of this study was to ascertain the occurrence of rheumatoid arthritis in female patients of child bearing age, which would serve as a useful tool in other rheumatoid arthritis prevalence studies that could be directed towards a better understanding of the flare of the disease and for the development of a more effective preventive and curative therapy.