A study on 51 patients with rheumatism of the heart and without clinical carditis, ages of 5-15 in the Institute of Pediatry during 1996-2000 has shown that 23 cases (45,1%) had symptoms of pathological valvular open by Doppler of which mitral open in the 3 cardiac valves. The extend of valvular open reduced when disease was stable. The Doppler can detect carditis without clinical symptoms due to rheumatism of the heart.
Rheumatic Diseases ; Echocardiography, Doppler ; diagnosis

The cross-sectional desriptive study included 762 postmenopause women who lived in inner and suburb of Ha Noi city. The subjects were divided into 3 groups: 5 years or less of menopause, between 5 to 10 years of menopause and 10 years or more of menopause. All of them were overall examined. 206 women also were calcaneal ultrasound measured. The results showed that the rate of joint pain was 55.7%, increasing gradually with the years of menopause and more common in inner-city women. The rate of back pain was 68.2% and more common in suburb women.
Rheumatic Diseases ; ultrasonography ; Postmenopause ; diagnosis

The aim of our study was to develop a Korean rheumatic diseases-screening questionnaire. The questionnaire was constructed based on American College of Rheumatology criteria for rheumatic diseases and a connective tissue diseases screening questionnaire. Two groups of patients were selected and completed the questionnaire: (i) those with osteoarthritis (n=46), rheumatoid arthritis (n=52), systemic lupus erythematosus (n=50), scleroderma (n=8), polymyositis or dermatomyositis (n=7), Sjogren's disease (n=4), and mixed connective-tissue disease (n=9) as case subjects; and (ii) those with fibromyalgia (n=8) and general disease without evidence of any rheumatic disease (n=72) as controls. Laboratory results were analyzed for correlation with actual data using kappa (kappa) statistics. Test-retest reliability was performed in 12 patients, and showed strong agreement between the first and second interviews (kappa=0.91). The sensitivity of the questionnaire ranged from 77.8 to 100%, and specificity ranged from 68.8 to 95.0%. Negative predictive values were very high in the general population, from 98.4 to 99.99%. The kappa statistic for agreement between laboratory items was 0.22-0.56, except for rheumatoid factor, antinuclear antibody test, and muscle enzyme level. We have developed a simple and sensitive Korean rheumatic diseases-screening questionnaire for the epidemiologic study of rheumatic diseases in Korea.
Adult ; Aged ; Female ; Human ; Korea/epidemiology ; Male ; Mass Screening* ; Middle Aged ; Predictive Value of Tests ; Questionnaires* ; Reproducibility of Results ; Rheumatic Diseases/diagnosis ; Rheumatic Diseases/epidemiology* ; Rheumatic Diseases/physiopathology

The rheumatoid activity on any part of the spine may affect the surrounding nerves, causing a series of symptoms at the related region of the innervations. By pressing corresponding parts on spinous processes of patient spine, tenderness of various degrees occurs. We named this kind of symptoms as "the spinous process tenderness syndrome". Meanwhile, we borrowed laboratory and imaging examinations to diagnose and differential identify. The symptoms could be alleviated by eliminating pathogenic reasons, local resting, and anti-rheumatic drugs.
Female ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Pain ; diagnosis ; Rheumatic Diseases ; diagnosis ; Spinal Diseases ; diagnosis ; Terminology as Topic

Arthritis, Juvenile ; diagnosis ; Child ; Forecasting ; Humans ; Immunologic Tests ; Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic ; diagnosis ; Mucocutaneous Lymph Node Syndrome ; diagnosis ; Rheumatic Diseases ; diagnosis ; immunology ; therapy ; Rheumatic Fever ; diagnosis ; Scleroderma, Systemic ; diagnosis

Rheumatic diseases are associated various extra-articular manifestations, such as eye, nerve, pericardium, and pleura. The anterior part of the eye has distinguished anatomic structure resembling synovial joints, thus it is a common site of ocular manifestation in rheumatic disease. These changes include sicca syndrome, peripheral ulcerative keratitis, episcleritis, scleritis, and iritis. Some of these findings may be the clues for the diagnosis of the rheumatic diseases, and some ocular manifestations may represent the activity or prognosis of the rheumatic diseases. These ocular complications may leads to severe visual loss. It is crucial to rule out underlying systemic diagnosis in rheumatic disease associated ocular diseases, and when diagnosed, the coordination of the rheumatologist with the ophthalmologist in the treatment is imperative.
Corneal Ulcer ; Diagnosis ; Eye Diseases* ; Iritis ; Joints ; Pericardium ; Pleura ; Prognosis ; Rheumatic Diseases* ; Scleritis ; Sjogren's Syndrome

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is the most common chronic inflammatory joint disease. The prevalence of RA is between 0.5~1% and annual incidence of RA is approximately 0.2~0.4/1,000 persons. The prevalence and incidence of RA appear to have fallen in the last 50 years. Risk factors for the development of RA include genetic factors, hormonal factors, reproductive factors, environmental factors and life-style factors. The currently accepted classification scheme for RA is the 1987 American Rheumatism Association (ARA) criteria. This criteria is both sensitive and specific, but it has limitation in classifying early disease.
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Classification ; Diagnosis* ; Epidemiology* ; Humans ; Incidence ; Joint Diseases ; Prevalence ; Rheumatic Diseases ; Risk Factors

Primary Sjögren's syndrome (pSS) is a chronic autoimmune inflammatory disorder characterized by lymphocytic infiltration of exocrine organs. Since 1965, several sets of classification criteria for pSS have been proposed by single experts or groups of multidisciplinary specialists. In 2002, the American-European Consensus Group proposed new classification criteria, which have been widely used in both clinical trials and routine clinical practice. In 2012, updated classification criteria were approved by the American College of Rheumatology (ACR). The existence of two different sets of criteria emphasized the need for an international consensus. Using methods consistent with those employed to develop recent ACR/European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR)-approved criteria, new ACR/EULAR classification criteria for pSS were developed and endorsed in 2016. Salivary gland ultrasonography (SGUS) is a new imaging tool used to detect salivary gland abnormalities in pSS patients. Several reports on the utility of SGUS for pSS diagnosis have appeared. This review focuses on the new 2016 ACR/EULAR classification criteria for pSS and the clinical application of SGUS in patients with pSS.
Classification* ; Consensus ; Diagnosis ; Humans ; Rheumatic Diseases ; Rheumatology ; Salivary Glands* ; Specialization ; Ultrasonography*

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease characterized by joint swelling, joint tenderness, and the destruction of bone and joints. It also has multiple systemic manifestations, resulting in functional disability and premature mortality. Since the introduction of various disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs and new biological agents, early diagnosis and treatment of this disease has become the most important therapeutic strategy. However, the existing classification criteria for RA, the 1987 revised American College of Rheumatology (ACR) classification criteria for RA, have limited diagnostic accuracy for early RA. Therefore, new classification criteria that include early RA are needed. Consequently, a joint working group of the ACR and European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) was formed to develop a new approach to the classification for RA and developed the 2010 ACR/EULAR classification criteria. This review describes the content and clinical importance of these new classification criteria.
Antirheumatic Agents ; Arthritis, Rheumatoid* ; Biological Factors ; Classification* ; Early Diagnosis ; Joints ; Mortality, Premature ; Rheumatic Diseases ; Rheumatology

BACKGROUND: The changes in the epidemiology of native valve endocarditis have been known in western countries recent years due to the decrease in the inci-dence of rheumatic heart disease, increased longevity of patients with valvular or congenital heart diseases, and the increase in degenerative heart disease due to the in-crease in the average life span of the general popula-tion. In this study, we analyzed and compared the epide-miological and clinical characteristics of patients with na-tive valvular endocarditis fro two different time periods. METHODS: We compared native valve endocarditis patients diagnosed from 1979 - 1984(group I) with those diagnosed from 1991 - 1996(group II). We used modified Duke' s criteria for the diagnosis and statistical analysis was done using SPSS window program. RESULTS: In our study, mean age of the population was higher in group II and significantly larger number of patients were over the age of 50 in group II. Involve-ment of multiple valves with vegetations and peri-valvular abscess were found more frequently in group II. Also, significantly higher percentage of patients from group II underwent surgical treatment. CONCLUSION: The results of this study suggest that the epidemiolocaland clinical characteristics of infective endocarsitis in Korea may change to resemble those in western countries. Further studies regarding this subject are needed.
Abscess ; Diagnosis ; Endocarditis* ; Epidemiology ; Heart Diseases ; Humans ; Korea ; Longevity ; Rheumatic Heart Disease