Association of Anaemia & Urinary Tract Infections with Amavata (Rheumatoid Arthritis) – A matched case-control study carried out at Jamnagar, Gujarat, India

Abstract

Background: Amavata (Rheumatoid Arthritis) is a chronic progressive disease, resulted from the conglomeration of Ama and aggrevated Vata dosha which gets lodged in the small joints followed by large joints. If it is left untreated, may cause various complications in the form of Vataja diseases in which Raktadhatu kshaya (Anaemia) and Mutrakricchra (Urinary Tract Infection) are predominant. But it needs robust evidence to revalidate the same. Aim & Objective: To evaluate the association of Raktadhatu kshaya (Anaemia) and Mutrakricchra (Urinary Tract Infection) with Amavata (~Rheumatoid Arthritis). Materials & Methods: A case-control study was conducted from 18.04.2018 to 09.01.2020, containing 155 cases (patients of Amavata), and 163 controls (healthy volunteers), matching in age (between 18 to 50 years), and sex, selected from Jamnagar district. Health Assessment proforma of TRISUTRA project CSIR-AYURGENOMICS for health assessment, ACR, 1987 Criteria for RA diagnosis were used. Chi-square test was applied to find the association of Raktadhatu kshaya (Anaemia) and Mutrakricchra (Urinary Tract Infection) with Amavata whereas Unpaired or Mann-whitney U test was applied to compare the hematological parameters between case and control group. Results: Statistically significant differences were found in the mean values of haemoglobin, total leukocyte count, neutrophils, lymphocytes, eosinophils, monocytes, MCV, MCH, MCHC, PCV, total RBC count, and platelet count among both the groups. Microcytic and Dimorphic Anaemia were substantially higher (P<0.0001) in the Amavata patients than in the controls (χ2 value=24.814). The prevalence of UTI (presence of pus cells in the urine) was found significantly more (P<0.0001) in Amavata patients than healthy individuals (χ2 value=45.347). Conclusion: Anaemia and Urinary tract infections are strongly associated with Amavata (~Rheumatoid Arthritis).