[Etiologic aspects of low back pain in rheumatic patients in Kinshasa (Zaire). Apropos of 169 cases]. / Quelques aspects étiologiques des lombalgies chez des rhumatisants consultants a Kinshasa (Zaïre). A propos de 169 cas.

A study over a period of 27 consecutive months showed that among patients seen in a Kinshasa hospital outpatient clinic for rheumatologic diseases, 46.5% sought medical advice for lower back pain. Lumbar arthrosis (74.5%), spondylodiscitis (9.5%) and unilateral sacroiliitis (9%) were the main causes of this complaint. A single patient had osteoporosis and no cases of ankylosing spondylarthritis were seen. Lumbar arthrosis was prevalent among females. Mean age of patients with disk disease was fairly low (43 years). Infectious spondylodiscitis and unilateral sacroiliitis, presumably reactive or infectious in origin, were also more common in women. HIV-infection was found in 44% of patients with spondylodiscitis and in 53% of patients with sacroiliitis. Age of HIV-infected individuals ranged from 21 to 40 years. Bacteriologic studies proved indispensable for determining the cause of these conditions in which leukocyte courts failed to rise. In young individuals in Kinshasa with spondylodiscitis or unilateral sacroiliitis, routine HIV testing is warranted.

[Osteoarthrosis, gout and arthritis rheumatoid in internal medicine in Kinshasa]. / Arthrose, goutte et polyarthrite rhumatoïde chez des consultants de médecine à Kinshasa.

Rheumatic disorders are relatively rare among internal medicine out-patients in Kinshasa. Diseases encountered most often are osteoarthrosis, gout and rheumatoid arthritis. The authors report the relative incidence of these diseases and note that sites of osteoarthrosis are predominantly axial, that the clinical pattern of rheumatoid arthritis is less severe with the absence of abarticular manifestations and that gout, in contrast, does not differ from the classical features described in the literature. These findings encourage the authors to continue their study in order to better define the clinical features of rheumatic disorders in Kinshasa and in Zaire in general.