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There is a high percentage of error in the approach of patients with joint pain by primary care physicians. An algorithm can help improve this misdiagnosis problem. Our study seeks to determine the effectiveness of an algorithm when used by primary care physicians for the diagnosis of cases of joint pain patients. A randomized clinical experiment was carried out. Primary care physicians from five cities in Colombia developed a series of clinical cases, which were presented to them through a website on their personal cell phones. Half of the doctors developed the cases using the diagnostic algorithm, and the other half developed the cases without the use of the algorithm. Main measures were proportion of correct diagnosis, number, type of laboratory and diagnostic images requested for the diagnostic approach of clinical cases. Two hundred and twenty-four primary care physicians participated. The overall proportion of cases correctly diagnosed was 37.3% higher in the intervention group; we found a greater difference in cases of spondyloarthritis (60.8%), followed by systemic lupus erythematosus with joint involvement (32.2%), rheumatoid arthritis (30.3%) and osteoarthritis (25.9%). The average number of tests requested to develop clinical cases was lower in the intervention group than in the control group, both globally and for each of the four diseases, with statistically significant differences for each of the comparisons. The diagnostic algorithm proved to be an effective tool when used by primary care physicians; the proportion of correct diagnoses increased, and the number of tests requested in the development of the cases decreased. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The objective was to describe the clinical characteristics and the frequency of the ANA/DFS70 autoantibodies in patients affected by undifferentiated connective tissue disease (UCTD) in a tertiary hospital in Colombia. This descriptive cross-sectional study enrolled patients who fulfilled the classification criteria for UCTD. ANAHEp- 2 test and the modified assay for ANA/DFS70 autoantibodies were performed through the indirect immunofluorescence technique. Erythrocyte sedimentation rate, C-reactive protein, rheumatoid factor, and the antibodies to anti-extractable nuclear antigens, DNA, phospholipids (IgG, IgM, IgA), and cyclic citrullinated peptide were also evaluated. Fifty-three patients were studied; 42/53 (79%) tested positive for ANA and 5/42 (11.9%) for ANA/DFS70 antibodies with a dense fine speckled fluorescent pattern (AC-2) in ANA HEp-2 test that was confirmed by a modified HEp-2-DFS70 assay. Patients had arthralgia (87%, n=47), non-erosive arthritis (66%, n=34), xerostomia (64%, n=34), xerophthalmia (42%, n=22), and Raynaud's phenomenon (17%, n=9). Arthralgia, xerophthalmia, xeroderma, and absence of disease evolution to a specific disease over five years were more frequent in patients with a positive result for the anti-DFS70 antibodies. The ANA/DFS70 autoantibodies were more frequent in patients with UCTD compared to other rheumatic diseases for which they were initially evaluated. More studies are required to support the predictive role of this antibody to the absence of progression to a well-defined connective tissue disease.

Introduction: In Colombia, chikungunya fever creates a warning in public health that extends over time given the subacute and chronic characteristics of the disease. Objective: To describe subacute and chronic symptoms in adult people who suffered chikungunya fever in the city of Ibagué, Colombia. Materials and methods: We conducted a descriptive study with snowball sampling in 368 adults from all the communes of Ibagué, Colombia, who had symptoms of chikungunya fever spanning for more than 12 days. Results: The joints that showed the greatest pain in the subacute and chronic phase of the disease were the hands with 84.2%, knees with 72.8%, and ankles with 69.3%. The soles of the feet were the non-articular areas with greater frequency of pain (48.8%). Joint pain in the hands (p=0.017) and ankles (p=0.001) and pain in the soles of the feet (p=0.002) were significant in women. General fatigue occurred in 58.9% of the subjects and in 2.4% of the population, it lasted for more than a year. Conclusions: The symptoms of the subacute and chronic phase of chikungunya fever were the same reported in the literature, they lasted up to a year or more, and decreased in intensity over time. The referred symptoms were more common in women than in men.