Depressive disorder in rheumatoid arthritis: the more joint's distressed, the more severely depressed

To determine the prevalence of depressive disorder and it's related factors in the patients with rheumatoid arthritis.
This cross-sectional study was conductd from April 2013 to August 2014.A total of 81 patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) were enrolled from Rheumatology Clinic, Shahid Beheshti Hospital, Kashan/ Iran. The Severety of depressive disorder was measured by Beck Depression Inventory, and the diagnosis of depressive disorder was confirmed in clinical interview by psychiatrist based on DSM-IV-TR.
Findings showed that more than half of the RA patients with depression 55.5 % had severe depression, the rest had Moderate and mild degree of depression, (16.7%) and (27.8%) respectively. There was no statistically significant relationship between depression and age, sex, marital status, job, economic status, and joint deformity (P > 0.05). However, the relationship between depression and the number of affected joints was statistically significant (P = 0.02), those patients with seven or more affected joints had a higher rate of depression than those with six or less.
Due to the relatively high prevalence of depressive disorder among those patients with rheumatoid arthritis early screening and treatment of depressive disorder is greatly recommended. Declaration of interest: None