Anxiety and depression in a community-based rheumatoid arthritis population

OBJECTIVE: To assess anxiety and depression and their explanatory factors in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in a community-based population. METHODS: The subscales of the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales (AIMS) for anxiety and depression were used, and the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) was used for the assessment of disability. Cross-tabulation and multivariate logistic regression analysis were used to evaluate which variables best describe the patients with either high or low depression and anxiety scores. RESULTS: Nearly 20% of our patients had probable depression (AIMS depression subscale score > or =4), a figure comparable to earlier hospital-based series. Most of the AIMS anxiety subscale variability was explained by poor physical function and the male sex, while the AIMS depression subscale variability was mostly explained by poor physical function, comorbidities, and social inactivity. CONCLUSION: In our cross-sectional, community-based RA series, depression was equal to the figures previously reported from hospital-based series. Poor physical function was a powerful explanatory factor of both depression and anxiety.