Pain And Stress Affect Sufferers With Rheumatoid Arthritis More Than Do Activities Of Daily Living

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Pain And Stress Affect Sufferers With Rheumatoid Arthritis More Than Do

Activities Of Daily Living

04/27/2001

By Rose

Pain and stress, rather than activities of daily living are considered the main

factors affecting the quality of life among patients with rheumatoid arthritis

say researchers in Japan.

Researchers from Toho University School of Medicine in Tokyo designed a study in

an endeavor to determine which factors affect the quality of life among patients

with rheumatoid arthritis.

Participants included 95 patients who complied with the criteria for rheumatoid

arthritis of the American Rheumatism Association. They completed a modified

arthritis impact measurement scale, version two (AIMS2) and a Lorish face scale

test, which was also filled in by 75 healthy controls. The Lorish face scale was

used to assess the quality of life, and its relationship with each item of the

questionnaire.

There was no significant difference between the patients with rheumatoid

arthritis and healthy controls for the average face scale but the rheumatoid

arthritis group scores covered a wider range than those of the controls.

Analysis showed that the correlation was strong between the face scale, physical

stress pain factors and some of the activities of daily living.

Activities of daily living, which indicated a strong correlation with face

scale, were relative to those affecting lower limbs, other factors correlated

only moderately. There was also no significant differences indicated between

socioeconomic factors and face scale or the quality of life between the healthy

controls and patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Modern Rheumatology 2001 Vol 11 No 1 pp 52-55.