Describing the Epidemiology of Rheumatic Diseases: Methodological Aspects

Purpose: Producing descriptive epidemiology data is essential to understand the burden of rheumatic diseases (prevalence) and their dynamic in the population (incidence).

Important Considerations: No matter how simple such indicators may look, the correct collection of data and the appropriate interpretation of the results face several challenges: distinguishing indicators, facing the costs of obtaining data, using appropriate definition, identifying optimal sources of data, choosing among many survey methods, dealing with estimates precision, and standardizing results.

Summary: This study describes the underlying methodological difficulties to be overcome so as to make descriptive indicators reliable and interpretable.