Objective: Assess the situation of rheumatoid arthritis disease (clinical features, treatment before hospitalization) at the Department of Nephrology and Rheumatology, in No.108 Military Central Hospital in 2 years 2013-2015. Subject and method: A retrospective, descriptive, cross-sectional study analyzing the characteristics of patients with rheumatoid arthritis treated at the Department of Rheumatology and Nephrology in No.108 Military Central Hospital from March 2013 to April 2015. Result: in 81 patients with rheumatoid arthritis, 65 patients (80.2 percent) were females. The ages ranged from 36 to 15 years old with a mean of 60.6 +/- 10.9, disease duration ranged from 0.5 to 15 years (mean 3.9 +/- 2.7 years). Three most common comorbidities were dyslipidemia (56.8 percent), hypertension (35.8 percent) and long-term corticosteroid induced Cushing syndrome (32.1 percent). Two symptoms which often seen were hand and fingers' arthritis (97.5 percent) and morning stiffness (84 percent)
the majority of patients were at stage II of disease (according to Stein brocker's classification (85.2 percent)
76.5 percent had positive RF. The treatment before hospitalization was inadequate: 90.1 percent used corticosteroids and/or medicinal herbs remaining unproven
76.5 percent had in proper treatments
56 patients (69.1 percent) did not use DMARDS, among them 53 patients (65.4 percent) not use Methotrexate. Conclusion: Rheumatoid arthritis had been a chronic joint disease, mainly met in females and often hospitalized at late stages. The treatment before hospitalization was inadequate, often without DMARDS, such as Methotrexate
most patients had abuse of corticosteroid and medicinal herbs, leading to unstable disease with many side-effects.