Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases logoLink to Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
. 2002 Oct;61(10):911–915. doi: 10.1136/ard.61.10.911

Annual incidence of inflammatory joint diseases in a population based study in southern Sweden

M Soderlin 1, O Borjesson 1, H Kautiainen 1, T Skogh 1, M Leirisalo-Repo 1
PMCID: PMC1753904  PMID: 12228162

Abstract

Objective: To estimate the annual incidence of inflammatory joint diseases in a population based prospective referral study in an adult population in Kronoberg County in southern Sweden.

Methods: The patients were referred from primary healthcare centres to the rheumatology department in Växjö Central Hospital or to the one private rheumatologist in Växjö participating in the study. Additionally, the hospital records for patients with joint aspirates during the inclusion period were checked. The patients were registered as incident cases if the onset of the joint inflammation was between 1 May 1999 and 1 May 2000. A systematic follow up of incoming referrals was conducted up to 31 January 2001. Children under the age of 16 and patients with septic arthritis, crystal arthropathies, and osteoarthritis were excluded from the study.

Results: A total of 151 new cases with inflammatory joint diseases were identified during one year, corresponding to a total annual incidence of 115/100 000. Of these, 31 patients (21%) had rheumatoid arthritis, the annual incidence being 24/100 000 (for women 29/100 000, and for men 18/100 000). Reactive arthritis was diagnosed in 37 patients (24%, annual incidence 28/100 000) and 54 patients had undifferentiated arthritis (36%, annual incidence 41/100 000). Eleven patients presented with psoriatic arthritis (7%, annual incidence 8/100 000). The incidence of Lyme arthritis was small in this non-endemic area, and the incidence of sarcoid arthritis corresponded to that in earlier studies.

Conclusion: This is the first prospective population based annual incidence study of early arthritis in Sweden. In this population, 36% of the incident cases had undifferentiated arthritis, whereas rheumatoid arthritis and reactive arthritis accounted for 45% of the cases. The incidence figures compare well with figures reported from other countries.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (127.5 KB).

Figure 1 .

Figure 1

Open in a new tab

Map of Scandinavia showing Kronoberg county.

Figure 2 .

Figure 2

Open in a new tab

Age specific annual incidence of inflammatory joint diseases in southern Sweden, with 95% confidence intervals.

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Arnett F. C., Edworthy S. M., Bloch D. A., McShane D. J., Fries J. F., Cooper N. S., Healey L. A., Kaplan S. R., Liang M. H., Luthra H. S. The American Rheumatism Association 1987 revised criteria for the classification of rheumatoid arthritis. Arthritis Rheum. 1988 Mar;31(3):315–324. doi: 10.1002/art.1780310302. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Berglund J., Hansen B. U., Eitrem R. Lyme arthritis--a common manifestation in a highly endemic area in Sweden. J Rheumatol. 1995 Apr;22(4):695–701. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Carbone L. D., Cooper C., Michet C. J., Atkinson E. J., O'Fallon W. M., Melton L. J., 3rd Ankylosing spondylitis in Rochester, Minnesota, 1935-1989. Is the epidemiology changing? Arthritis Rheum. 1992 Dec;35(12):1476–1482. doi: 10.1002/art.1780351211. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Carter E. T., McKenna C. H., Brian D. D., Kurland L. T. Epidemiology of Ankylosing spondylitis in Rochester, Minnesota, 1935-1973. Arthritis Rheum. 1979 Apr;22(4):365–370. doi: 10.1002/art.1780220408. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Chan K. W., Felson D. T., Yood R. A., Walker A. M. Incidence of rheumatoid arthritis in central Massachusetts. Arthritis Rheum. 1993 Dec;36(12):1691–1696. doi: 10.1002/art.1780361207. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Del Puente A., Knowler W. C., Pettitt D. J., Bennett P. H. High incidence and prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in Pima Indians. Am J Epidemiol. 1989 Jun;129(6):1170–1178. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a115238. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Drosos A. A., Alamanos I., Voulgari P. V., Psychos D. N., Katsaraki A., Papadopoulos I., Dimou G., Siozos C. Epidemiology of adult rheumatoid arthritis in northwest Greece 1987-1995. J Rheumatol. 1997 Nov;24(11):2129–2133. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Dugowson C. E., Koepsell T. D., Voigt L. F., Bley L., Nelson J. L., Daling J. R. Rheumatoid arthritis in women. Incidence rates in group health cooperative, Seattle, Washington, 1987-1989. Arthritis Rheum. 1991 Dec;34(12):1502–1507. doi: 10.1002/art.1780341205. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Fister R. D., Weymouth L. A., McLaughlin J. C., Ryan R. W., Tilton R. C. Comparative evaluation of three products for the detection of Borrelia burgdorferi antibody in human serum. J Clin Microbiol. 1989 Dec;27(12):2834–2837. doi: 10.1128/jcm.27.12.2834-2837.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Glennås A., Kvien T. K., Melby K., Refvem O. K., Andrup O., Karstensen B., Thoen J. E. Acute sarcoid arthritis: occurrence, seasonal onset, clinical features and outcome. Br J Rheumatol. 1995 Jan;34(1):45–50. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/34.1.45. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Guillemin F., Briançon S., Klein J. M., Sauleau E., Pourel J. Low incidence of rheumatoid arthritis in France. Scand J Rheumatol. 1994;23(5):264–268. doi: 10.3109/03009749409103727. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Hülsemann J. L., Zeidler H. Undifferentiated arthritis in an early synovitis out-patient clinic. Clin Exp Rheumatol. 1995 Jan-Feb;13(1):37–43. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Isomäki H., Raunio J., von Essen R., Hämeenkorpi R. Incidence of inflammatory rheumatic diseases in Finland. Scand J Rheumatol. 1978;7(3):188–192. doi: 10.3109/03009747809095652. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Jacobsson L. T., Hanson R. L., Knowler W. C., Pillemer S., Pettitt D. J., McCance D. R., Bennett P. H. Decreasing incidence and prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in Pima Indians over a twenty-five-year period. Arthritis Rheum. 1994 Aug;37(8):1158–1165. doi: 10.1002/art.1780370808. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Kaipiainen-Seppanen O., Aho K., Heliovaara M. Incidence and prevalence of ankylosing spondylitis in Finland. J Rheumatol. 1997 Mar;24(3):496–499. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Kaipiainen-Seppänen O., Aho K. Incidence of chronic inflammatory joint diseases in Finland in 1995. J Rheumatol. 2000 Jan;27(1):94–100. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Kaipiainen-Seppänen O., Aho K., Isomäki H., Laakso M. Incidence of rheumatoid arthritis in Finland during 1980-1990. Ann Rheum Dis. 1996 Sep;55(9):608–611. doi: 10.1136/ard.55.9.608. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Kaipiainen-Seppänen O. Incidence of psoriatic arthritis in Finland. Br J Rheumatol. 1996 Dec;35(12):1289–1291. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/35.12.1289. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Kvien T. K., Glennås A., Melby K., Granfors K., Andrup O., Karstensen B., Thoen J. E. Reactive arthritis: incidence, triggering agents and clinical presentation. J Rheumatol. 1994 Jan;21(1):115–122. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Linos A., Worthington J. W., O'Fallon W. M., Kurland L. T. The epidemiology of rheumatoid arthritis in Rochester, Minnesota: a study of incidence, prevalence, and mortality. Am J Epidemiol. 1980 Jan;111(1):87–98. doi: 10.1093/oxfordjournals.aje.a112878. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Moll J. M., Wright V. Psoriatic arthritis. Semin Arthritis Rheum. 1973;3(1):55–78. doi: 10.1016/0049-0172(73)90035-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Nasrallah N. S., Masi A. T., Chandler R. W., Feigenbaum S. L., Kaplan S. B. HLA-B27 antigen and rheumatoid factor negative (seronegative) peripheral arthritis. Studies in younger patients with early-diagnosed arthritis. Am J Med. 1977 Sep;63(3):379–386. doi: 10.1016/0002-9343(77)90276-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Nissilä M., Isomäki H., Kaarela K., Kiviniemi P., Martio J., Sarna S. Prognosis of inflammatory joint diseases. A three-year follow-up study. Scand J Rheumatol. 1983;12(1):33–38. doi: 10.3109/03009748309102001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Riise T., Jacobsen B. K., Gran J. T. Incidence and prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in the county of Troms, northern Norway. J Rheumatol. 2000 Jun;27(6):1386–1389. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Shbeeb M., Uramoto K. M., Gibson L. E., O'Fallon W. M., Gabriel S. E. The epidemiology of psoriatic arthritis in Olmsted County, Minnesota, USA, 1982-1991. J Rheumatol. 2000 May;27(5):1247–1250. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Speyer I., van der Horst-Bruinsma I. E., Breedveld F. C., Hazes J. M. Diagnose en verloop van vroege artritis; onderzoek op een gespecialiseerde polikliniek voor vroege artritis. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 1996 Apr 20;140(16):882–885. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Symmons D. P., Barrett E. M., Bankhead C. R., Scott D. G., Silman A. J. The incidence of rheumatoid arthritis in the United Kingdom: results from the Norfolk Arthritis Register. Br J Rheumatol. 1994 Aug;33(8):735–739. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/33.8.735. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Uhlig T., Kvien T. K., Glennås A., Smedstad L. M., Førre O. The incidence and severity of rheumatoid arthritis, results from a county register in Oslo, Norway. J Rheumatol. 1998 Jun;25(6):1078–1084. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Wiles N., Symmons D. P., Harrison B., Barrett E., Barrett J. H., Scott D. G., Silman A. J. Estimating the incidence of rheumatoid arthritis: trying to hit a moving target? Arthritis Rheum. 1999 Jul;42(7):1339–1346. doi: 10.1002/1529-0131(199907)42:7<1339::AID-ANR6>3.0.CO;2-Y. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Wolfe F., Ross K., Hawley D. J., Roberts F. K., Cathey M. A. The prognosis of rheumatoid arthritis and undifferentiated polyarthritis syndrome in the clinic: a study of 1141 patients. J Rheumatol. 1993 Dec;20(12):2005–2009. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Zeidler H. Undifferentiated arthritis and spondylarthropathy as a major problem of diagnosis and classification. Scand J Rheumatol Suppl. 1987;65:54–62. doi: 10.3109/03009748709102177. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases are provided here courtesy of BMJ Publishing Group

RESOURCES