[Quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis patients]

Abstract

Aim: To study quality of life (QL) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Material and methods: Questionnaire survey (MCA, BIPQ, AIMS, MHAQ) covered 190 RA patients (mean age 47.7 +/- 1.4 years). Many of them were group II invalids. All the patients had slow-progressive polyarthritis, articular and seronegative RA prevailed. Most of the patients had articular and seronegative RA with first-degree activity, x-ray stage II and third-degree deficiency of the articular function.

Results: It is shown that RA patients have subnormal quality of life. Its deterioration was related to clinical parameters: duration of the disease and its activity, invalidity, X-ray stage, articular and locomotor functions, psychological status. Hypochondriac, apathical and neurastenic reactions to the disease occurred most frequently. Euphoric reaction to the disease was a positive factor for QL. Changes in social status were essential for QL in RA patients.

Conclusion: QL is an integral indicator of health status in RA patients. It can be estimated basing on only one questionnaire--AIMS as it includes all the necessary components.