RESEARCH - Comparing the prevalence of rheumatic diseases in China with the rest of the world

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Arthritis Res Ther. 2008; 10(1): 106.

Published online 2008 February 25. doi: 10.1186/ar2369. PMCID: PMC2374465

Comparing the prevalence of rheumatic diseases in China with the rest

of the world

T Felson1

1Clinical Epidemiology Research & Training Unit, 650 Albany Street,

Suite X-200, Boston, MA 02118-2526, USA

Geographic or ethnic differences in the occurrence of disease often

provide insights into causes of disease and possible opportunities for

disease prevention. Persons in China appear to have a consistently

lower prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia than persons

in the United States and Europe; reasons for these prevalence

differences might include genetic differences, differences in

environmental exposures or a combination of both. With increasing

obesity, gout is becoming endemic in China. Finally, symptomatic knee

osteoarthritis is extremely common in China and constitutes a major

public health problem there.

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http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pubmed & pubmedid=1834170\

1

Not an MD