Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Review
. 2021 Apr 1;28(2):60-67.
doi: 10.4078/jrd.2021.28.2.60.

Epidemiology of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Korea

Hyoungyoung Kim  1 , Yoon-Kyoung Sung  1
Affiliations
Review

Epidemiology of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Korea

Hyoungyoung Kim et al. J Rheum Dis. .

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic autoimmune disease characterised by symmetrical involvement of the joints, associated extra-articular manifestations and functional disability. In Korea, several epidemiologic studies reporting prevalence and incidence rates of RA have been conducted using large databases such as claims databases, national surveys, prospective cohort databases or electronic health records; according to these data sources, the estimated prevalence ranged from 0.27% to 1.85%. The prevalence of extra-articular manifestations such as interstitial lung disease (ILD) and Sjögren's syndrome (SS) were also reported, but an issue of external validity of the study results persisted. In this review, we detail the epidemiology of Korean RA patients, focusing on the prevalence of RA and the frequency of systemic extra-articular manifestations including ILD and SS reported in previous studies. In addition, we discuss the current methodological issues which are inherent in Korean epidemiologic studies for patients with RA with understanding of the characteristics of each database.

Keywords: Comorbidity; Data sources; Epidemiology; Rheumatoid arthritis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

CONFLICT OF INTEREST No potential conflict of interest relevant to this article was reported.

References

    1. Brown KK. Rheumatoid lung disease. Proc Am Thorac Soc. 2007;4:443–8. doi: 10.1513/pats.200703-045MS. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Ajeganova S, Huizinga TW. Rheumatoid arthritis: seronegative and seropositive RA: alike but different? Nat Rev Rheumatol. 2015;11:8–9. doi: 10.1038/nrrheum.2014.194. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Myasoedova E, Crowson CS, Turesson C, Gabriel SE, Matteson EL. Incidence of extraarticular rheumatoid arthritis in Olmsted County, Minnesota, in 1995-2007 versus 1985-1994: a population-based study. J Rheumatol. 2011;38:983–9. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.101133. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Cojocaru M, Cojocaru IM, Silosi I, Vrabie CD, Tanasescu R. Extra-articular manifestations in rheumatoid arthritis. Maedica (Bucur) 2010;5:286–91. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Hur NW, Choi CB, Uhm WS, Bae SC. The prevalence and trend of arthritis in Korea: results from Korea National Health and Nutrition Examination Surveys. J Korean Rheum Assoc. 2008;15:11–26. doi: 10.4078/jkra.2008.15.1.11. - DOI

LinkOut - more resources