STRESSFUL LIFE EVENTS EFFECTS ON RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS DISEASE-ACTIVITY

A 53-year-old female rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patient endured 2 unexp ected family deaths during a 12-week study investigating the prospecti ve relationships between stressful small life events, negative affect, and disease activity. Her disease went into temporary remission the s ame week as the deaths. She was identified as a case study participant , and weekly data collection was extended to 1 year. Clinical exams ve rified a large decrease in disease status immediately after the major losses. In addition to major events, negative affect and small events were found to serve as independent arthritis symptom predictors within this patient. Major events were associated with decreased symptoms. N egative affect and small events related to symptom increases. Subseque nt between-subjects analyses conducted on 25 participants from the par ent project probed for generalizability. The substantive findings from the case study were supported: Major life events and small life event s functioned as opposing predictors of RA disease states.