Rheumatic diseases are an important cause of morbidity in the general population. There are more than 200 conditions that produce variable degrees of pain, disability and deformity. In general, these diseases do not increase mortality in the short term and, therefore, are not taken into account in health and education priorities. However, its influence on the deterioration of quality of life is increasingly recognized.
Rheumatic diseases are one of the main chronic-degenerative diseases
For several years, Latin America has undergone an epidemiological transition. The problems of health, education and social needs linked to poverty have not been overcome and, at the same time, the challenge of development pathologies must be faced. Among the latter, chronic-degenerative diseases are included, and rheumatic diseases are especially relevant.
This phenomenon imposes significant challenges on health systems and, frequently, scarce resources are used to solve urgent needs and attention to emerging problems is postponed.
The WHO declared the first decade of the 2000s as that of Bone and Joint
No rheumatologist is oblivious to the overwhelming figures that reflect the global impact of musculoskeletal diseases. It is estimated that approximately 10 percent of the population suffers from some rheumatic disease. These diseases occupy one of the first ten reasons for total disability in countries such as the United States, Canada and Mexico. In the Mexican Social Security Institute (IMSS), the disability rate has been calculated at 1.38 per 100 beneficiaries.
For its part, the World Health Organization considered the decade from 2000 to 2010 as the decade of Bone and Joint. This was to highlight the importance of musculoskeletal diseases. Four diseases have been considered of special relevance: rheumatoid arthritis; osteoporosis; osteoarthritis and lower back pain. The impact of this decade should be critically assessed in different regions of the world, and in Latin America it does not seem to have been particularly successful.