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.