Quality of Life and Depression in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients Treated with Biologics – A Single Centre Experience

Abstract

Introduction Patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) often experience depression, which has a very negative impact on the assessment of the quality of life (QoL). However, there are not many studies that assess the relationship between depression and QoL in RA patients. The aim of the study was to assess the level of QoL and determine the mutual relationship between anxiety and depression levels and QoL in patients treated for RA. Material and Methods The study included 101 patients (aged:52.4±16.97), who met the established criteria for a diagnosis of RA and treatment with a biological agent. Only standardized tools were used to examine the patients: WHO-QoL, HADS and the VAS scale. Results The mean RA duration in the group studied was 13.54±9.51 years and the disease activity score was 4.8±0.8. The mean QoL perception score was 3.48± 0.8. Nearly 40% of the respondents could not clearly determine their QoL, perceiving it as neither poor nor good, and 10% believed their QoL is poor or very poor. The correlation analysis revealed that anxiety is significantly and negatively associated with QoL in the psychological domain (r = −0.472, p < 0.001) and social domain (r = −0.298, p = 0.023) and depression is significantly and negatively associated with QoL in the psychological domain (r = −0.322, p = 0.01) and physical health domain (r = −0.209, p = 0.04). In the multiple linear regression model, depression was an independent negative predictor affecting the following domains: perception of QoL and perception of health, and physical health. Conclusion RA patients treated with biologics present a low level of health perception and an average level of QoL perception. Depression and anxiety negatively correlate with QoL domains: the higher the anxiety and depression levels, the poorer the QoL in the psychological and social relationships domains. Depression is an independent determinant of decreased QoL.

Latent class analysis of depressive and anxious symptoms among Chinese rheumatoid arthritis patients

“…Another contribution of this study was that different symptom pro les were signi cantly associated with all dimensions of SF-36 in Chinese RA patients. Our ndings corroborated previous studies [7,8,32], which showed that poor quality of life was signi cantly associated with anxiety/depression in RA patients. However, this is the rst LCA study that examined the relationships among different symptom patterns of depression and anxiety and quality of life in Chinese RA patients.…”

Quality of life assessment and its relationship with fatigue symptom, demographic and clinical factors in rheumatoid arthritis Polish patients

“…Katchamart et al [50] indicated that among Thai patients with RA, the quality of life was affected jointly by disease activity, functional disability, depression and anxiety, and pain. In Tański et al [31], depression was the main predictor negatively affecting the quality of life, especially in the domains of perceiving the quality of life, perceiving health, and physical health (measured in the WHOQOL scale). In Mandala et al [51], in a multiple regression analysis, the quality of life was negatively affected by disease activity, functional disability, treatment with disease-modifying drugs, comorbidities, and extra-articular lesions.…”

“…Tański et al [31] indicated that patients treated with biological drugs had a lower quality of life than those treated conventionally, and anxiety and depression negatively impacted their quality of life.…”

Impacto del Tocilizumab sobre la Depresión en pacientes con Artritis Reumatoide

“…Sin embargo, en pacientes de edad más avanzada existen ciertas limitaciones. Tański et al, (2022) en su investigación menciona que la capacidad de respuesta paralela de la comorbilidad psiquiátrica con los otros índices de actividad de la enfermedad de la AR puede implicar que existe una vía biológica compartida para la alteración de la salud mental y los síntomas inflamatorios en la AR. Además, es probable que la influencia paliativa de la terapia con tocilizumab sobre la ansiedad y la depresión sea relativamente rápida, un efecto previamente demostrado en la literatura para otros índices de actividad de la enfermedad y resultados relacionados con el paciente, como el DAS28 y la fatiga.…”