Survey of the use and effect of assistive devices in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis: A two‐year followup of women and men

Abstract

Objective. To identify activity limitation in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) to detect patients needing assistive devices. To evaluate the effects of assistive devices. Methods. A multicenter cohort of 284 early RA patients was examined using the Evaluation of Daily Activity Questionnaire 12 and 24 months after diagnosis.Results. The extent of activity limitation was stable over time for both women and men. Most limitations concerned eating and drinking. Women reported more difficulties than did men. The use of assistive devices was related to subgroups with severe disease and more disability. Use of assistive devices reduced difficulties significantly. For both women and men, assistive devices were mostly used in activities related to eating and drinking. Conclusion. Already 1 year after diagnosis, RA patients reported activity limitation that remained stable over time. Use of assistive devices was related to more severe disease and more pronounced disability. Use of devices reduced difficulties significantly.

Assistive devices: usage in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

“…Usage rates as reported in the present study are hard to compare with those of other studies concerning assistive devices in general [2,3,7,12], mainly because different definitions of usage have been used. None of the previous studies assessed the absolute frequency of usage as employed in the present study.…”

“…In previous studies, proportions of patients possessing one or more assistive devices varied between 34% and 78% [3,[5][6][7]. This difference could probably be explained by variation in the number of assistive devices or groups of assistive devices that were taken into account [3,[5][6][7] or by differences among patient populations (age and disease duration [3,6]). Moreover, it has been demonstrated before that possession of assistive devices may vary along with country-related health care systems [5].…”

“…assistive devices was associated with higher age [2,7,11], more severe disease [2,3,7,12], more disability [2,3,7,12] and a beneficial effect or positive evaluation of the device. [2,7,9,12] In these studies, a number of factors which are likely to be relevant for the actual usage of adaptive devices, such as the process of prescription and provision and the patient's evaluation of the design and comfort of adaptive devices, has not been taken into account.…”

Activity limitation in rheumatoid arthritis correlates with reduced grip force regardless of sex: The Swedish TIRA project

“…However, when women and men with RA were subgrouped together with regard to grip force, it became evident that poor outcome assessed by the HAQ and EDAQ was related to low grip force, but not to sex (or age) per se. The activity limitations seen 3 years after the diagnosis of RA were of approximately the same magnitude as those seen after 1 and 2 years in both women and men (5). Several investigators, using the HAQ, have reported more pronounced activity limitations in women than men (2,4,(13)(14)(15)18,35), and this finding, together with a majority of other self-reported outcome measures, has …”

“…However, early in the disease course, the inflammatory process leads to a multitude of functional limitations (1)(2)(3)(4)(5). Several studies have also shown that RA is associated with a shortened life span, mainly due to coronary vascular disease (6 -8).…”