High Burden of Rheumatic Disease in Mexico: A Comprehensive Community-based Epidemiological Study

The current supplement to The Journal presents a series of articles on an excellent, well conducted, large epidemiological study of rheumatic disease in Mexico1,2,3,4,5,6,7. Various stakeholders participated in this endeavor, including professional associations such as the Colegio Mexicano de Reumatología, federal institutions, and private industry. The result is one of the largest community-based epidemiological studies including clinical evaluations specifically addressing the prevalence of musculoskeletal disorders. Five regions of Mexico were included: Chihuahua, Nuevo León, Sinaloa, Yucatán, and Mexico City. Over 19,000 individuals were evaluated using the methodology proposed by the Community Oriented Program for the Control of Rheumatic Diseases (COPCORD), a strategy used in various regions throughout the world in the past 3 decades8. Briefly, the COPCORD method uses multistage random probability sampling to select participants, who are visited in their households by trained staff, and administered a survey. The Mexican version of the COPCORD questionnaire, previously used in a smaller study, was also used in this survey9. It includes questions about demographic and social characteristics, musculoskeletal pain, functional disability, self-reported conditions, and selected health behaviors. Participants who reported nontraumatic musculoskeletal pain > 1 on a visual analog scale … Address correspondence to Dr. Suarez-Almazor; E-mail: msalmazor{at}mdanderson.org