Key result
Low income (P=0.018), high levels of rheumatoid factor (P=0.043), and poor mental health (P=0.001) were significantly associated with depression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
Why the study?
What clinical and psychosocial factors are associated with depression and anxiety in Singaporean patients with rheumatoid arthritis?
Cross-Sectional (n=100)
What clinical and psychosocial factors are associated with depression and anxiety in Singaporean patients with rheumatoid arthritis?
Low income, high levels of rheumatoid factor, and poor mental health are independently associated with depression in Singaporean patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
This is the authors' abstract. We don't add key points for this paper.
AIM: To assess the frequency of, and factors associated with, depression and anxiety in Singaporean patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHOD: One hundred RA patients were recruited in a cross-sectional study. Socio-demographics, severity of anxiety and depression, disease activity, levels of serological markers and health-related quality of life were analyzed. RESULTS: Twenty-six percent presented with anxiety, 15% with depression and 11% with both. Univariate regression showed that age (P = 0.039), Disease Activity Scale (DAS-28) (P < 0.001), number of medications (P < 0.001) and rheumatoid factor (RF) (P < 0.001) were positively associated with severity of depression, while income (P = 0.001), education (P = 0.029), self-perceived social support (P = 0.007), Short form 12 (SF-12) physical health (P < 0.001) and SF-12 mental health (P < 0.001) were negatively associated with severity of depression. After adjustment for confounding factors in multivariate regression, income (β = -0.347, P = 0.018), RF (β = 0.304, P = 0.043) and SF-12 mental health (β = -0.501 P = 0.001) remained significantly associated with depression. Univariate regression showed that DAS-28 (P = 0.009), number of medications (P = 0.004) and RF (P = 0.043) were positively associated with anxiety, while income (P = 0.022), self-perceived social support (P = 0.04), SF-12 physical health (P < 0.001) and SF-12 mental health (P < 0.001) were negatively associated with anxiety. After adjustment for confounding factors, no factors remained significantly associated with anxiety. CONCLUSION: Low income, high levels of RF and poor mental health were associated with depression in RA. Our findings may help to formulate depression screening strategies. Further research is required to identify the role of RF in depression.
May inform targeted depression screening in RA; leaves open causal pathways and need for longitudinal validation.
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Ho et al. (2011) conducted a cross-sectional in rheumatoid arthritis (n=100). Clinical and psychosocial factors was evaluated on Severity of depression and anxiety. Low income (P=0.018), high levels of rheumatoid factor (P=0.043), and poor mental health (P=0.001) were significantly associated with depression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
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