Depressive symptoms in rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Objective: To determine the prevalence of depressive and anxiety symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (a chronic inflammatory disease) in comparison to a control group with osteoarthritis (a chronic non-inflammatory degenerative disease) and to identify the sociodemographic and clinical variables associated with depressive symptoms in these patients. Method: Sixty-two rheumatoid arthritis patients and 60 osteoarthritis patients participated in the study. Sociodemographic and clinical data were collected and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale and the Disability Index of the Health Assessment Questionnaire were applied. Results: The prevalence of depressive symptoms was of 53.2% in rheumatoid arthritis and 28.3% in osteoarthritis (p = 0.005). The prevalence of anxiety symptoms was of 48.4% in rheumatoid arthritis and 50.0% in osteoarthritis (p = 0.859). The mean (and standard deviation) scores in the Disability Index of the Health Assessment Questionnaire were 1.4 (0.8) in rheumatoid arthritis and 1.4 (0.6) in osteoarthritis (p = 0.864). Rheumatoid arthritis patients with depressive symptoms had lower education and higher disease activity and functional disability. Conclusion: Although these two rheumatic diseases are similar in terms of the pain and functional disability that they cause, a significantly higher prevalence of depressive symptoms was found in rheumatoid arthritis patients. This difference might be explained by the hypothesis of a neuroimmunobiological mechanism related to cytokines in inflammatory diseases, which has been considered as a candidate to the development of depressive symptoms. Descriptors

Sexual Function in Females With Rheumatoid Arthritis: Relationship With Physical and Psychosocial States

“…Furthermore, Isik et al 32 found that total prevalence of anxiety, depression, and mixed anxiety-depressive disorder was 70.8% in patients with RA (of these, 41.5% had depression, 13.4% had anxiety, and 15.9% had mixed anxiety-depressive disorder) and 7.3% in the control group. Mella et al 33 demonstrated that in patients with RA, the prevalence of depression and anxiety symptoms were 53.2% and 48.4%, respectively. Cross sectional and comparative studies in RA reported that age, RA duration, RA activity, morning stiffness, physical disability, functional disability, pain, fatigue, social stress, marital status, worries about partner interest are key predictors of clinical depression.…”

“…Cross sectional and comparative studies in RA reported that age, RA duration, RA activity, morning stiffness, physical disability, functional disability, pain, fatigue, social stress, marital status, worries about partner interest are key predictors of clinical depression. 11,12,27,28,[30][31][32][33][34] Sexual function is closely related to satisfactory quality of life. According to the World Health Organization, sexual health is closely associated with physical, emotional, mental and social aspects of well-being in relation to sexuality.…”

“…Answers are scored on a scale of 1 to 4 and scores range from 20 to 80. Levels of anxiety are classified into three levels according to scores: average (27)(28)(29)(30)(31)(32)(33)(34)(35), above average (36-51), or severe (52-80). 23 …”

Prévalence et facteurs prédictifs de la dépression au cours de la polyarthrite rhumatoïde

“…Lapol yarthrite rhumatoïde (PR) et la dépression sont deux maladies qui ont une relation intriquée avec des influences réciproques et même certains points communs [1][2][3][4][5]. L'objectif de cette étude était d'estimer la prévalence de la dépression au cours de la PR dans une série tunisienne et de déterminer les facteurs associés à sa survenue.…”

Disabling Osteoarthritis and Symptomatic Anxiety: Impact and Implications

“…The disease specifically limits the ability to function physically, as well as the chances of experiencing a high life quality (Montin et al, 2007). Although often described solely as a physically disabling syndrome, amenable largely to pharmacologic interventions (Tallon et al, 2000), a reasonable body of research shows behavioral conditions such as anxiety can occur at rates of up to 50% among osteoarthritis cases (Mella et al, 2010). In addition, the importance of identifying and acknowledging this possibility is supported by recent evidence showing adults with knee osteoarthritis report considerable anxiety (Tallon et al, 2000), and tend to have poorer function if they exhibit high rather than low anxiety rates (Scopaz et al, 2009).…”