Preliminary report on a study of health-related quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

There are studies about health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but few studies prospectively assessed HRQoL. The main purpose of this study was to analyze HRQoL in patients hospitalized due to RA exacerbation and observed over a planned 2-year follow-up in an outpatient setting. The study involved 42 women and 9 men, at mean age of 62.5 years (SD ± 12.6). The mean duration of the study was 22–23 months. The HRQoL analysis was performed using the SF-36 survey. At the beginning of the study, basic data on age, sex, selected biochemical (ESR, CRP, GFR, hemoglobin, plasma albumin, plasma protein), and clinical parameters (the duration of RA, VAS, DAS28, BMI, the presence of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, osteoporosis, osteoporotic fractures, osteoarthritis, neoplasm) were collected. Questionnaires were completed at the beginning and end of the study. Statistically significant reductions in HRQoL scores were observed in social functioning (SF; 0.42 vs 0.32, P < 0.05), whereas role-emotional health (RE; 0.48 vs 0.59, P < 0.05) and mental health (MH; 0.47 vs 0.54, P < 0.05) scores were increased. A decrease in the SF was positively correlated with the lack of osteoporosis at baseline (r = 0.35, P > 0.02). An increase in the MH was inversely correlated with BMI (r = −0.31, P < 0.05), and the level of hemoglobin (r = −0.32, P < 0.028) and positively correlated with the presence of osteoarthritis at baseline (r = 0.29, P < 0.05). In RA patients, dimensions of HRQoL as SF, RE, and MH could change within 2 years and these changes could be related to comorbidities. Although preliminary findings are promising, further studies are needed.

Depressive and anxiety symptoms and social support are independently associated with disease-specific quality of life in Colombian patients with rheumatoid arthritis

“…6 General measures of QOL, such as the Health Assessment Questionnaire Disability Index (HAQ) and the Short-Form 36 , as well as disease-specific measures, such as the RAQOL and the QOL-RA, all indicate poorer QOL than controls. [7][8][9][10][11] The influence of psychosocial factors on QOL in RA has been documented in samples from various countries.…”

Health-Related Quality of Life in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus and Rheumatoid Arthritis Compared to the Healthy Population in Shiraz, Iran

“…These diseases influence the patients' QoL due to the diversity of symptoms, medication-related complications, and psychotic and social dysfunctions. Also, SLE and RA patients experience various limitations, including physical, psychological, and social disabilities, which can affect different aspects of health-related QoL (HRQoL) (1,2).…”

Multidimensional Model of Disability and Role Functioning in Rheumatoid Arthritis

“…As such, in an effort to attain parsimony and based on theoretical plausibility, this path was removed. The fit of this revised model was also good, S-Bχ 2 (30) = 38.59, p = .135, CFI = .977, SRMR = .062, RMSEA = .053. As shown in Figure 2, disease burden contributed to mood disturbance and higher levels of disability, whereas mood disturbance and disability related to lower levels of role functioning.…”

“…SEM results indicated that the model had excellent fit, S-Bχ 2 (30) = 38.59, p = .135, CFI = .977, SRMR = .062, RMSEA = .053. Mediational analyses demonstrated that while disease burden was associated with poor role functioning, its effects were jointly mediated by mood disturbance and disability.…”

“…All SF-36 scales are recalibrated to a 0 to 100 scale with higher scores indicating higher levels of adaptive functioning (rescaled to 1–10 for analysis purposes). The SF-36 has been shown to be a psychometrically sound measure of patient wellbeing in RA with good scale-level reliability (30). …”