srjcmsSRJCMSSRJCMS2788-8851https://doi.org/10.47310/srjcms.2022.v02i02.002Lab Profile of Patients investigated for Arthritis in the Department of Orthopaedics at a Tertiary Care Center in Himachal PradeshVirenderSinghRohitRaiVatsyanPankitShekharBhanuAwasthiBackground: Arthritis describes a set of symptoms that includes pain, stiffness, and joint deformities subsequent to an inflammatory process. The destructive process can occur through multiple pathways. These include: degenerative disease (osteoarthritis), auto-immune or auto-inflammatory processes (rheumatoid arthritis and ankylosing spondylitis), crystal deposition (gout and pseudo-gout), and infection (septic arthritis). Many systemic diseases can have arthritis as a major manifestation such as systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), psoriasis, Lyme disease, reactive arthritis, and celiac disease among numerous others. Other diseases like hypothyroidism, diabetes and certain malignancies can sometimes have arthritis as one of the manifestations and one must be aware of arthritic presentation of such disorders. The present study was carried out to study the Lab Profile of Patients investigated for Arthritis in the Department of Orthopaedics at a tertiary care center in Himachal Pradesh. Methodology:This was an observational hospital-based study conducted in the Department of Orthopaedics, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Kangra at Tanda, from 1st June 2020 to 31st May 2021. 161 patients presenting to Orthopaedics OPD with symptoms of arthritis were included in this study after diagnosis. Results: A total of 161 patients were included in the study over a period of 1 year. There were 100 (62.1%) females and 61 (37.9%) males in the study with a female to male ratio of 1.64:1. The most common age group observed was 61-80 years with 84 (52.2%) patients followed by 31-60 years age group with 40 (24.8%) patients. The most common type of arthritis observed in our study was OA which was observed in 91 (56.5%) patients followed by RA in 42 (26.1%) patients. There were 9 (5.6%) cases of septic arthritis and 7 (4.3%) cases of AS. AVN, gouty arthritis, osteoarticular TB, RA along with septic arthritis and charcot arthropathy was observed in 2 (1.2%) cases each. In OA cases there was female predominance with 74.7% females. In septic arthritis, males predominated with 88.8%. AS, AVN, gouty arthritis, psoriatic arthritis and RA along with AVN was present in only males. There was a statistically significant difference between the different types of arthritis in terms of gender distribution (p value <0.001). Conclusion: The recent onset arthritis is an important issue which could have a good prognosis if diagnosed and treated early. A large proportion of these patients have a self-limited course which may go into remission without aggressive treatment. The estimated burden of arthritis demands a public health approach, availability and accessibility of health care services.