Abstract
We have held a public program for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) targeting citizen in Nagasaki prefecture 9times since 2007. Here we showed tendencies and problems of the public program. The program was composed of 3 parts including lecture of physicians and an orthopedist, an exercise of RA performed by a physical therapist,and a panel discussion that took questions from the floor. A questionnaire regarding annual shift of participants and therapeutic medicines. Results from Sasebo city and Goto city that is located on an isolated island were also analyzed. During the 9times the program was carried out, participants were frequently aged over 50years old and the proportion of health personnel was 14%. The percentage of RA disease duration within 3years was around 30%. Usage rate of disease modifying anti-rheumatic drugs was 67% and 59% without statistical significance. However, usage rate of biologics in Sasebo city (30%) was significantly greater than that in Goto city (p＝6.64×10⁻⁸). In the same places, the desire to participate in this program in the future statistically showed a declining trend (p＝4.86×10⁻⁵). Although participants’ motivation for collecting information for RA was high, there was large difference between an isolated island and other places with respect to the frequency of use of biologics. According to these data, we suggest continuous familiarizing efforts must be performed to devise how to proceed with the program.
