Epidemiological Aspects of Osteoarticular and Rheumatological Diseases Related to Diabetes in Niger

Type 1 or 2 diabetes can be complicated by numerous non-specific joint conditions. Sometimes revealing, these affections are frequent but often remain unrecognized. However, they are the cause of a significant functional handicap. The objective of this work is to describe the osteoarticular rheumatological disorders in diabetics consulting or hospitalized in the rheumatology and internal medicine departments of the National Hospital of Niamey and the Magori Polyclinic. This was a cross-sectional study at the Rheumatology Department in collaboration with the Internal Medicine Department within the National Hospital of Niamey and Polyclinic Magori over a period of 7 months (December 2018 to July 2019). One hundred (100) diabetic patients with osteoarticular diseases were collected, 75% of whom were women with a female/male sex ratio of 0.33. The average age was 56 years with extremes of 21 and 90 years. Forty-three percent (43%) of the patients had diabetes for more than 10 years, with an average age of 13 years. The average BMI was 28.08 ± 5.42 kg/m2. Poor glycemic control was found in the majority of patients (92%). Gonarthrosis was the most common disease associated with diabetes (89%). In the context of joint stiffening syndrome, the most frequent problem was a protruding finger, found in 4% of patients, followed by retractile capsulitis in 3% of the 100 cases. Infectious complications were dominated by septic arthritis in 4% of patients. The presence of one or more degenerative complications of diabetes (nephropathy, retinopathy, nephropathy) was the most frequent factor associated with osteoarticular diseases in our diabetic patients. This work underlines the great variety and frequency of osteoarticular affections during diabetes, hence the interest in optimal glycemic control of a close collaboration between rheumatologists and endocrinologists in order to avoid as much as possible the development of these rheumatological affections which are the source of pain and functional handicap, being able to even engage the vital prognosis.