WHO-ILAR COPCORD study (stage 1, urban study) in Sanandaj, Iran

This study aims to conduct an urban Community Oriented Program for Control Of Rheumatic Diseases (COPCORD) study in Sanandaj (Kurdistan, Iran). Sanandaj with a population of 311,446 (2006 census), Caucasian of Kurdish subgroup, was selected as the field. Sanandaj was divided into 100 clusters and subjects were randomly selected from them (50 subjects from each cluster). The COPCORD study started on July 2011 and ended on June 2012. Of the households, 1,631 was visited and 5,830 persons were interviewed. The male to female ratio was 0.8–1 (44.5 % males, 55.5 % females). Musculoskeletal complaints during the past 7 days were detected in 42.8 % of the interviewed subjects (36.3 % males, 48.1 % females). The distribution was 16.7 % shoulder, 10 % wrist, 9.7 % hands and fingers, 7.7 % hip, 26.3 % knee, 9.9 % ankle, 6.4 % toes, 9.5 % cervical spine, and 21.5 % dorsal and lumbar spine. Degenerative joint diseases were detected in 19.4 % of the subjects: 1.8 % neck, 18.9 % knee, 3.9 % hands, and 0.51 % hip. Low back pain was detected in 16.5 %, sciatica in 1.2 %, cervical nerve root pain in 0.24 %, and soft tissue rheumatism in 5.5 %. Inflammatory disorders were 0.51 % rheumatoid arthritis, 0.22 % seronegative spondyloarthropathy, 0.10 % ankylosing spondylitis, 0.05 % systemic lupus erythematosus, and 0.10 % Behcet’s disease . Fibromyalgia was detected in 0.62 % and gout in 0.12 % of the studied population. Disability was reported by 28.3 %. It was present at the study time in 21.4 %. Comparing the four COPCORD studies of Iran, the figures (numbers) obtained by COPCORD Sanandaj are much the same as the COPCORD study in Tehran. Joint complaints were seen less frequently than in the COPCORD urban study of Zahedan and rural study of Tuyserkan. Osteoarthritis was higher than in Tehran, but the same as the two others. Soft tissue rheumatism was rather the same. Rheumatoid arthritis was higher than Tehran and Tuyserkan, but lower than Zahedan.