Appraisal of the Impact of Rheumatoid Arthritis on the Quality of Life Using Sf-36: A Cross Sectional Study

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis is a progressive systemic autoimmune disease. The untreated RA can lead to joint damage and loss of function. The major complications include. The main aim and objectives of our work are to evaluate the respondent's quality of life using a standard questionnaire, to assess the knowledge over the disease condition, to report the number of unreported cases of rheumatoid arthritis, to educate and counsel individual respondent. A cross-sectional study was conducted in a population of 1650 and 38 respondents with rheumatoid arthritis positive were obtained. Among the 38 respondents, we have noticed 7 unreported cases of rheumatoid arthritis. It was confirmed by the algorithm of the World health organization. All the 38 respondents were made to answer the 36 questions as per the protocol and the data were recorded. Later the score was calculated using a software-online SF-36 calculator. In our study it was found that females were suffering more than males and experiencing a low quality of life, whereas the extra-articular manifestations were more reported in males, and the respondents on regular medication were doing better and 7 respondents were unaware of having rheumatoid arthritis.32 respondents were unaware of the concept that the physical illness affects the mental health. Finally, all the patients were counseled as per the objectives of our study. Thus our study brings to notice about the burden of rheumatoid arthritis in India, need to provide the necessary knowledge about the disease state and the self-assessment of the quality of life.