Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2014 Sep;30(5):976-81.
doi: 10.12669/pjms.305.5112.

Predictors of frequent oral analgesic use in rheumatoid arthritis

Esha das Gupta  1 , Huey Shin Tee  2 , Rajalingham Sakthiswary  3
Affiliations

Predictors of frequent oral analgesic use in rheumatoid arthritis

Esha das Gupta et al. Pak J Med Sci. 2014 Sep.

Abstract

Objective: The main objective of this study was to determine the predictors of frequent oral analgesic use among Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients who were prescribed with the above medication on an 'as-needed' basis.

Methods: Patients with RA were recruited consecutively from the Rheumatology outpatient clinics in this cross-sectional study. The sociodemographic data, frequency of oral analgesic intake, Patient Global Assessment (PGA) scores and HAQ (Health Assessment Questionnaire) scores were determined by interviewing the subjects. Subjects were divided into 2 groups; frequent users (3 days and above in a week) and less frequent users (less than 3 days in a week).

Results: In a total of 112 subjects, 39 (34.8%) were frequent analgesic users. Both the HAQ and PGA scores were significantly higher among the frequent users (p<0.05). Using multivariate analysis, the HAQ scores (p=0.015, odds ratio 3.161 [95% confidence interval of 1.246-8.015]) and PGA scores (p=0.039 odds ratio 1.291 [95% confidence interval of 1.012-1.646]) were found to be independent predictors of frequent analgesic use.

Conclusions: Our study confirms that the frequency of analgesic intake in Rheumatoid Arthritis has a significant relationship with patient-reported functional capacity and well being.

Keywords: Analgesic; Rheumatoid arthritis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Fig.1
Fig.1
Correlation between HAQ score and frequency of analgesic intake (number of days in a week).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Odegard S, Finset A, Kvien TK, Mowinckel P, Uhlig T. Work disability in rheumatoid arthritis is predicted by physical and psychological health status: a 7-year study from the Oslo RA register. Scand J Rheumatol. 2005;34(6):441–447. DOI: 10.1080/03009740510018633. - PubMed
    1. Smedstad LM, Moum T, Vaglum P, Kvien TK. The impact of early rheumatoid arthritis on psychological distress. A comparison between 238 patients with RA and 116 matched controls. Scand J Rheumatol. 1996;25(6):377–382. - PubMed
    1. Al MJ, Maniadakis N, Grijseels EW, Janssen M. Costs and effects of various analgesic treatments for patients with rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis in the Netherlands. Value Health. 2008;11(4):589–599. DOI: 10.1111/j.1524-4733.2007.00303.x. - PubMed
    1. Bloom BS. Cost of treating arthritis and NSAID-related gastrointestinal side-effects. Aliment Pharmacol Ther. 1988;2(Suppl 1):131–138. - PubMed
    1. Blamey R, Jolly K, Greenfield S, Jobanputra P. Patterns of analgesic use, pain and self-efficacy: a cross-sectional study of patients attending a hospital rheumatology clinic. BMC Musculoskelet Disord. 2009;10:137. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2474-10-137. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources