Prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in south america: A systematic review and meta-analysis

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is among the most prevalent chronic autoimmune and inflammatory diseases worldwide. The aim of this study was to establish a pooled estimate of the RA prevalence in South America by means of a me-ta-analysis of the available epidemiologic studies. Systematic searches in PubMed, Lilacs, SciELO, Scopus, and Web of Science databases (updated May 2019) were done followed by a systematic grey literature search to identify original research articles and reports, published after 2000, provid-ing data of RA prevalence in any South American country. Proportion meta-analysis of weighted pooled was performed, with between-trial hetero-geneity assessed by the inconsistency relative in-dex. Sensitivity analyses and sub-group analyses were also done. A total of 25 articles, represent-ing 27 population-based studies were included. Pooled prevalence of RA resulted in 0.48% with 591,981 cases in a population of 114,537,812 individuals (I2=99%). Brazil and Colombia pre-sented the lowest rates of RA prevalence 0.22%, and 0.24%, respectively. RA prevalence in indigenous population was higher 1.45%, and studies using COPCORD method reported also the high-est rates 1.07%.