@ARTICLE{, author = {}, title = {The Prevalence of Periarthritis in Patients Referred to Rheumatology center of Shariati Hospital (Tehran, 1996-2002)}, volume = {5}, number = {4}, abstract ={Background and Objective: Soft tissue involvements are the most common types of rheumatic diseases. The prevalence of periarthritis in a study in the USA was 20-30% of all rheumatic diseases. The aim of this study was to estimate the prevalence, type, topography and treatment in these disorders. Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional descriptive study was done on 1600 files of patients that were visited in rheumatology center of Shariati Hospital between 1996-2002. The samples were selected randomly and systematically and the data were extracted. Results: The prevalence of periarthritis was estimated 16.25% (260 cases). Most of the cases with periarthritis were found in the age group of 40-50 years (26.6%) and the mean of age was 46.48±13.86. About 78.5% of patients were female and 21.5% were male. The most common forms of periarthritis were tendonitis and bursitis (64.6%) and the second rate was neurovascular (23.6%). The most frequent disease was carpal tunnel syndrome 21.9% and shoulder capsulitis (13.5%). Right upper limb and wrist (26.2%) were the most frequent sites of involvement and the rate of bilateral carpal tunnel was 42%. The rheumatic disease, as background, were found in 17.3% of patients. Bilateral carpal tunnel syndrome was the most frequent type of bilateral periarthritis which was statisticaly significant (p<0.001). Conclusion: As the results showed periarthritis diseases are very common, specially carpal tunnel syndrome and shoulder capsulitis. The future studies need to evaluate the response to treatment, job; and trauma must be considered because of their importance in etiology. This study can be considered as a basis study for future reserches. Key words: Rheumatic Diseases, Periarthritis, Prevalence }, URL = {http://journal.rums.ac.ir/article-1-5397-en.html}, eprint = {http://journal.rums.ac.ir/article-1-5397-en.pdf}, journal = {Journal of Rafsanjan University of Medical Sciences}, doi = {}, year = {2006} }