Psychological distress and physical disability are less common in patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) now than in those diagnosed 20 years ago. In a study of 1,151 consecutive patients in the Utrecht Rheumatoid Arthritis Cohort, 53% of those diagnosed in 1994–1998 were physically disabled at 4-year follow-up, compared with 31% of those diagnosed in 2007–2011. The percentage of patients with depressed mood decreased from 25% to 14%, and with anxiety from 23% to 12%, over the same time period. Analyses indicate that this trend could be in part attributable to reduced disease activity.
References
Overman, C. L. et al. Patients with rheumatoid arthritis nowadays are less psychologically distressed and physically disabled than patients two decades ago. Arthritis Care Res. (Hoboken) 10.1002/acr.22211
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Less distress and disability in RA now than 20 years ago. Nat Rev Rheumatol 10, 64 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2013.208
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrrheum.2013.208