Evaluation of the Early Indicators, Including Arthralgia, in Diagnosing Brucellosis Arthritis

Aim: To evaluate the diagnostic utility of the numerical rating scale (NRS) for pain in the detection of brucellosis‐associated arthritis and to guide treatment decisions. Methods: We retrospectively analyzed the clinical characteristics of patients with brucellosis at two hospitals from October 2017 to January 2024. The study primarily examined the associations between NRS scores and laboratory parameters, as well as the incidence of arthritis. NRS scores are specifically designed to measure pain intensity in patients suspected of having brucellosis‐associated arthritis. Then, we employed the chi‐square test to analyze the frequency data and generated a receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve to determine the cutoff value, sensitivity, and specificity for each parameter. According to the cutoff value, we converted the continuous variables into categorical variables and performed a binary logistic regression analysis to identify risk factors. Results: A total of 128 patients with brucellosis were enrolled in the study. 64 patients were diagnosed with brucellosis‐associated arthritis, while the remaining 64 patients did not have arthritis. A significant difference in age distribution was observed between the two groups ( p = 0.012). Age, platelet (PLT) count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), and NRS scores were significantly higher in patients with brucellosis‐associated arthritis compared to the control group ( p < 0.05). Notably, the area under the curve (AUC) for the NRS was 0.851 (95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.778–0.925). The logistic regression model indicated that patients with a NRS score of ≥ 3.5 or a PLT count of ≥ 198.2 × 10 9 /L faced an increased risk of developing brucellosis‐associated arthritis. Conclusions: NRS showed potential in identifying subclinical presentations of arthropathic manifestations related to brucellosis in this cohort. This result indicates the need for further validation as a potential screening tool for early‐stage articular complications.