QUALITY-OF-LIFE IN RHEUMATOID-ARTHRITIS - A CASE-CONTROL STUDY IN PATIENTS LIVING IN NORTHERN NORWAY

Objective. To study quality of life parameters in patients with rheuma toid arthritis and the possible association of these parameters with d isease activity.Methods, Fifty-two women with rheumatoid arthritis and 52 controls completed two self reporting psychiatric screening tests: the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ - 30) and the Cantril Ladder sc ale. The number of psychiatric cases detected was not significantly hi gher for either group using the GHQ score S+ as the criterion. Results . Comparing the GHQ scores, patients,showed a higher score compared wi th the controls (p = 0.02). The patients scored significantly higher o n feelings of incompetance (p = 0.004), but not on the other subgroups of psychiatric factors. The patients reported lower life satisfaction on the Cantril self anchoring ladder (p = 0.0001). The functional cap acity score was positively associated with the GHQ score. No associati on was detected between disease duration or the other disease activity parameters and either the GHQ score or the life satisfaction score. C onclusion. This inconsistant relationship between clinical parameters and quality of life scores may be due to the fact that RA patients suf fer from a chronic disease, or is may reflect an impaired psychosocial status in the patients. This study demonstrates that the increased ps ychological disturbances in women with RA is mainly explained by feeli ngs of incompetance.