Table 1.

Search terms used in the review of the literature

1.	(rheumatoid adj3 arthritis).af.
2.	exp arthritis, rheumatoid/ or exp caplan syndrome/ or exp felty’s syndrome/ or exp rheumatoid nodule/ or exp rheumatoid vasculitis/
3.	(rheum* adj3 arth*).tw.
4.	rheumatoid arthritis.tw.
5.	exp africa/ or exp africa, northern/ or exp algeria/ or exp egypt/ or exp libya/ or exp morocco/ or exp tunisia/ or exp “africa south of the sahara”/ or exp africa, central/ or exp cameroon/ or exp central african republic/ or exp chad/ or exp congo/ or exp “democratic republic of the congo”/ or exp equatorial guinea/ or exp gabon/ or exp africa, eastern/ or exp burundi/ or exp djibouti/ or exp eritrea/ or exp ethiopia/ or exp kenya/ or exp rwanda/ or exp somalia/ or exp sudan/ or exp tanzania/ or exp uganda/ or exp africa, southern/ or exp angola/ or exp botswana/ or exp lesotho/ or exp malawi/ or exp mozambique/ or exp namibia/ or exp south africa/ or exp swaziland/ or exp zambia/ or exp zimbabwe/ or exp africa, western/ or exp benin/ or exp burkina faso/ or exp cape verde/ or exp cote d'ivoire/ or exp gambia/ or exp ghana/ or exp guinea/ or exp guinea-bissau/ or exp liberia/ or exp mali/ or exp mauritania/ or exp niger/ or exp nigeria/ or exp senegal/ or exp sierra leone/ or exp togo/
6.	africa.tw.
7.	5 or 6
8.	1 or 2 or 3 or 4
9.	(burden and disease).tw.
10.	(disease adj3 burden*).tw.
11.	exp morbidity/
12.	morbidity.tw.
13.	9 or 10 or 11 or 12
14.	7 and 8 and 13