Characteristics of Patients with Charcot's Arthropathy and its Complications in the Saudi Diabetic Population: A Cross-Sectional Study.

BACKGROUND: Charcot's arthropathy (CA) is a destructive rare complication of diabetes, and its diagnosis remains challenging for foot specialists and surgeons. We aimed to assess the clinical presentation and characteristics of CA and the frequencies of its various types. METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted from January 1, 2007, to December 31, 2016, and included 149 adults with diabetes diagnosed as having CA. Cases of CA were classified based on the Brodsky anatomical classification into five types according to location and involved joints. RESULTS: The mean ± SD age of the studied cohort was 56.7 ± 11 years, with a mean ± SD diabetes duration of 21.2 ± 7.0 years. The CA cohort had poorly controlled diabetes and a high rate of neuropathy and retinopathy. The most frequent type of CA was type 4, with multiple regions involved at a rate of 56.4%, followed by type 1, with midfoot involvement at 34.5%. A total of 47.7% of the patients had bilateral CA. Complications affected 220 limbs, of which 67.7% had foot ulceration. With respect to foot deformity, hammertoe affected all of the patients; hallux valgus, 59.5%; and flatfoot, 21.8%. CONCLUSIONS: There is a high rate of bilateral CA, mainly type 4, which could be attributed to cultural habits in Saudi Arabia, including footwear. This finding warrants increasing awareness of the importance of maintaining proper footwear to avoid such complications. Implementation of preventive measures for CA is urgently needed.

Cross-Cultural Adaptation and Validation of the Arabic Version of the Intermittent and Constant Osteoarthritis Pain Questionnaire.

This study aimed to translate and adapt the Intermittent and Constant Osteoarthritis Pain questionnaire into the Arabic language and evaluate the validity and reliability of this scale for participants with knee or hip osteoarthritis. This questionnaire was translated based on the Manufacturers Alliance for Productivity and Innovation protocol. The test-retest reliability was calculated using the Intraclass Correlation Coefficient. Then, Cronbach's alpha was used to assess the internal consistency of Intermittent and Constant Osteoarthritis Pain questionnaire. After that, the criterion validity was evaluated against the Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score. A total of 90 participants were included in this study, of which 29 participants were re-evaluated for reliability testing. The Intraclass Correlation Coefficient of the Knee Intermittent and Constant Osteoarthritis Pain questionnaire were 0.841, 0.923 and 0.911 for the total, constant, and intermittent knee pain, respectively. Cronbach's alpha was 0.88, 0.93 and 0.94 for the total score, the intermittent knee pain and the constant knee pain, respectively. Eventually, criterion validity was r=0.24(P<0.05). Intermittent and Constant Osteoarthritis Pain in Arabic is a valid and reliable instrument to be used in Arabic-speaking patients with knee/hip osteoarthritis.

Non-mydriatic fundus camera screening with diagnosis by telemedicine for diabetic retinopathy patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes: a hospital-based cross-sectional study.

BACKGROUND: Diabetic retinopathy (DR) is considered the fifth leading cause of visual impairment worldwide and is associated with a huge social and economic burden. OBJECTIVE: Describe the practicality of non-mydriatic funduscopic screening photography for the detection of DR among patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. DESIGN: Cross-sectional hospital-based study. SETTING: Diabetes center, Riyadh. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Between July and December 2017, patients with diabetes and aged ≥18 years were selected by systematic random sampling from the University Diabetes Center. Fundoscopic eye examination was performed using the TRC-NW8 non-mydriatic camera, which performs ocular coherence tomography (OCT) to detect macular edema. Using telemedicine, pictures were graded by a retinal-specialized ophthalmologist using the international clinical DR disease severity scale. Patients were classified according to the type and severity of DR. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Detection and classification of DR. SAMPLE SIZE: 978 Saudi patients with diabetes. RESULTS: Of 426 (43.5%) patients with DR, 370 had nonproliferative DR and 55 had proliferative DR. Nineteen (1.9%) had macular edema. The most important risk factors for DR were longer diabetes duration and poor glycemic control. Both older age and insulin use contributed to the higher prevalence of DR and macular edema. DR was more common among type 1 patients at 55.4% compared with 49% among type 2 patients. In addition, more females had macular edema (57.1% versus 42.9% among males). Nine patients with macular edema (47.3%) had hypertension while 154 of 426 patients with DR (36.2%) had hypertension. CONCLUSION: Non-mydriatic funduscopic screening photography was practical and useful for the detection of DR in patients with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. LIMITATIONS: Conducted in a single center. CONFLICT OF INTEREST: None.