The Spectrum of Rheumatic Diseases and Associated Comorbidities among Patients Visiting the Rheumatology Clinic in Taif, Saudi Arabia: A Single-center Experience

Background: Autoimmune rheumatic diseases (AIRDs) represent emerging diseases in modern life with a great burden and complications. Objectives: To make a descriptive analysis for a sample of patients came to visit rheumatology clinic in Taif, Saudi Arabia to know the spectrum of rheumatic diseases and associated comorbidities. Materials and Methods: This is a retrospective cross-sectional descriptive analysis done on the patients who came to the rheumatology outpatient clinic for a duration of about 2 years. We retrospectively collect data from the electronic patient files. Demographic data, final diagnosis reached, vitamin D level, and associated comorbidities were reported. Results: Of 1719 patients, 76.96% of patients were females. We diagnosed that 41.53% of patients had AIRDs, 4.81% of patients had gout, 3.19% of patients had fibromyalgia, and 50.49% of patients were referred due to either nonspecific arthralgia or degenerative diseases. The most common AIRDs were rheumatoid arthritis (RA; 50.14%), systemic lupus erythematosus (23.24%), psoriatic arthritis (4.34%), Behçet’s disease (4.06%), and axial spondyloarthritis (2.52%). In most of our cases, vitamin D was found deficient, with a percentage reached 62.61% in AIRDs, 69.5% in gouty patients, 56.4% in fibromyalgia patients, and in most cases with non-AIRDs (61.86%). The most common associated comorbidities in our patients are hypertension, diabetes, hypothyroidism, iron deficiency anemia, dyslipidemia, ischemic heart disease (IHD), and chronic kidney disease (CKD). Conclusion: RA is the most common rheumatic disease noticed in our patients, followed by gouty arthritis and fibromyalgia. Vitamin D deficiency is very common among most patients. Hypertension, diabetes, hypothyroidism, iron deficiency anemia, IHD, CKD, and dyslipidemia are the most common comorbidities among patients with rheumatic diseases.