Compliance with Hand Splints Among Patients of Rheumatoid Arthritis at Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi Pakistan

Objectives: To determine the compliance with hand splints among patients of Rheumatoid arthritis at Benazir Bhutto Hospital Rawalpindi and their satisfaction with usage of splints. Subjects & Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was done among 22 rheumatoid arthritis patients who were enrolled in the study through consecutive non-probability sampling. Data was collected pertaining to demographics, type of upper limb deformity, usage of splints and resultant degree of satisfaction. Descriptive statistics were applied. Data was analysed by SPSS version 25.0. and Microsoft Excel 2016. Results: Of the 22 cases of rheumatoid arthritis, 73% were females. Most (13) of them were 41-50 years old. 11 cases had boutonniere deformity while 8 and 3 patients had swan neck deformity and ulnar deviation respectively. Many males and females had swan neck and boutonniere deformity respectively. Only 2 males and 5 females were found compliant with hand splints. 9 patients were not willing to use splints and 6 were non-compliant with splints despite their availability. Of the 13 cases using splints, 7 felt improvement in their deformity while 6 found it convenient to use splints. Conclusion: boutonniere deformity was among the most widespread upper limb deformities in rheumatoid arthritis cases. Only one third of the cases were compliant with hand splints.