Where do people with Joint Hypermobility Syndrome present in secondary care? The prevalence in a general hospital and the challenges of classification
File(s)
Accepted version
Author(s)
To, M
Simmonds, J
Alexander, CM
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Aim:
Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (JHS) is an inherited disorder of the connective tissue and can lead to widespread pain, joint instability and fatigue. In order to understand where patients with musculoskeletal symptoms and JHS present to in secondary care we have established the prevalence of JHS within the pain management service, a general rheumatology clinic and an orthopaedic clinic of a single general hospital.
Method:
A total of 138 patients attending the pain management service, a general rheumatology clinic and an orthopaedic clinic were surveyed for Joint Hypermobility Syndrome as part of their usual care using the Brighton criteria.
Results:
The pain management and general rheumatology clinics both demonstrated a similar prevalence of 39.1% and 37.0% respectively. The orthopaedic clinic demonstrated a much lower prevalence of 10.9%.
Conclusion:
There were a higher number of people with JHS presenting to the pain management and general rheumatology clinics than the orthopaedic clinic. This reflects an appropriate pathway for this multiple joint pathology. The difficulty in classifying people with JHS is discussed as these figures may reflect an over classification of the condition.
Joint Hypermobility Syndrome (JHS) is an inherited disorder of the connective tissue and can lead to widespread pain, joint instability and fatigue. In order to understand where patients with musculoskeletal symptoms and JHS present to in secondary care we have established the prevalence of JHS within the pain management service, a general rheumatology clinic and an orthopaedic clinic of a single general hospital.
Method:
A total of 138 patients attending the pain management service, a general rheumatology clinic and an orthopaedic clinic were surveyed for Joint Hypermobility Syndrome as part of their usual care using the Brighton criteria.
Results:
The pain management and general rheumatology clinics both demonstrated a similar prevalence of 39.1% and 37.0% respectively. The orthopaedic clinic demonstrated a much lower prevalence of 10.9%.
Conclusion:
There were a higher number of people with JHS presenting to the pain management and general rheumatology clinics than the orthopaedic clinic. This reflects an appropriate pathway for this multiple joint pathology. The difficulty in classifying people with JHS is discussed as these figures may reflect an over classification of the condition.
Date Issued
2016-05-30
Date Acceptance
2016-04-07
Citation
Musculoskeletal Care, 2016, 15 (1), pp.3-9
ISSN
1557-0681
Publisher
Wiley
Start Page
3
End Page
9
Journal / Book Title
Musculoskeletal Care
Volume
15
Issue
1
Copyright Statement
© 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. This is the pre-peer reviewed version of the following article, which has been published in final form at http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/msc.1147/abstract
Sponsor
National Institute of health reseach
Subjects
1110 Nursing
Arthritis & Rheumatology
Publication Status
Published