Overview of work disability in rheumatoid arthritis patients as observed in cross‐sectional and longitudinal surveys

Introduction Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic disabling condition with, among other things, negative social and economic consequences for both the individual patient and society. Striking economic consequences are the diminished ability to perform the current job (i.e., the same occupation or the same number of hours) or even work disability. Costs directly ensuing from work disability account for a large part of the total RA-related costs (1). Over the past decades, a number of studies have been published reporting on work disability. In general, the percentage of patients that becomes work disabled during the course of the disease is high, although rates between studies differ. This may be attributable to differences in definition of work disability, study design, population, mean disease duration or length of followup, flexibility of labor market at the time of study, and maybe most importantly, differences in social security systems across the different countries. Regardless of the variability in study designs, it is of interest to identify the risk factors found in the studies. Potentially modifiable risk factors might be influenced early in the course of disease. This overview has 3 purposes: 1) to summarize percentages of work disability in patients with RA, as measured cross-sectionally or longitudinally, 2) to see which sociodemographic characteristics, clinical variables, or workrelated factors are associated with work disability or are predictors of work disability; and 3) to compare rates of work disability in groups of RA patients with the countryspecific rates of the general population.