Background Comorbid medical conditions are common in patients with RA. It is unknown how the comorbid burden is distributed in countries with different economic status.

Objectives To investigate prevalences of 31 comorbidities in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and their association with the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the patient’s resident country.

Methods 9,874 patients from 34 countries (16 with high-GDP (>24.000 US dollars (USD) pr. capita) and 18 with low-GDP countries (<24.000 USD)) participated in the Quantitative Standard monitoring of Patients with RA (QUEST-RA) study. 31 comorbid conditions were assessed by interview of patients and review of patient’s file: hypertension, angina, heart attack, coronary artery disease, other heart disease, hyperlipidemia, peripheral vascular disease, peptic ulcer, inflammatory bowel disease, impaired renal function, asthma, chronic bronchitis, diabetes, thyroid disease, cancer, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, chronic back pain, musculoskeletal trauma, low energy fractures, osteoporosis, osteoarthritis, infection requiring hospitalization, herpes zoster/shingles, fibromyalgia, psoriasis, cataracts, psychiatric disease, AIDS, alcohol abuse and obesity.

Results Overall, patients had a median of 2 comorbid condition. 0, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and >5 comorbidities were present in 25.8%, 23.1%, 17.9%, 12.6%, 8.0%, 5.2%, 7.4% of patients, respectively.

In high-GDP countries patients had a median of 2 comorbidities, while patients in low-GDP had 1 (p<0.001).

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Conclusions In >9.800 RA patients in 34 countries a median of 2 comorbid conditions was found. The most frequent comorbidities were hypertension, osteoporosis at scan, osteoarthritis, hyperlipidemia, obesity and chronic back pain. Comorbidities were more prevalent in high-GDP countries, perhaps due to under-diagnosis in low-GDP countries.

Disclosure of Interest None Declared