PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Nicola Minaur
AU  - Steven Sawyers
AU  - Jonathan Parker
AU  - John Darmawan
TI  - Rheumatic disease in an Australian Aboriginal community in North Queensland, Australia. A WHO-ILAR COPCORD survey.
DP  - 2004 May 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - 965--972
VI  - 31
IP  - 5
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/31/5/965.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/31/5/965.full
SO  - J Rheumatol2004 May 01; 31
AB  - OBJECTIVE: To estimate prevalences of rheumatic diseases in Aboriginal Australians. METHODS: The methodology of the Community Oriented Program for the Control of Rheumatic Diseases (COPCORD) was followed. Everyone aged 15 years or older in Yarrabah, North Queensland, was invited to complete a COPCORD Core Questionnaire. Aboriginal health workers carried out a house-to-house survey during January 2002. People reporting current musculoskeletal symptoms and 56 others (controls) were examined at the community health center. RESULTS: Eighty percent of the target population was covered during the survey. Eight hundred and forty-seven questionnaires were completed (47% men) and 135 people refused, a response of 86%. Rheumatic symptoms within the previous 7 days were reported by 33% and past symptoms by 22%. The most common sites of current pain were low back (12.5%), knee (11.2%), and shoulder (8.9%). Sixty-seven people (7.7%) said activities were limited by their symptoms. Two hundred and sixty-three people were examined, and the most common diagnoses were soft tissue pain (point prevalence 7.4%), osteoarthritis (5.5%), and low back pain (4.3%). The cumulative prevalence of gout was 7.0% in men and 0.9% in women over the age of 15 years. The relative risk of gout associated with drinking regularly was 2.5, and with body mass index > 25 was 3.3. No rheumatoid arthritis or systemic lupus erythematosus cases were identified, but there were 4 cases of psoriatic arthritis (point prevalence 0.5%). CONCLUSION: This is the first unselected population study of rheumatic diseases in Australian Aboriginals. There was a high prevalence of gout among men, with modifiable factors of weight and alcohol identified.