Quality of life and Related Factors in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients

Introduction and Assessment of quality of life (QOL) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients is of great importance for health researchers¡ health
planners¡ and clinical specialists. Therefore¡ we aimed to evaluate QOL and the factors affecting it in patients with RA.
This descriptive-analytical study was performed in 185 RA patients (2014) at Shariati Hospital. The participants were chosen through convenience sampling. The data collection tools included a form on demographic and clinical factors¡ health status (arthritis impact measurement scale2 [AIMS2])¡ and SF20 QOL questionnaire. Data was analyzed in SPSS 16 using descriptive¡ univariate¡ and multivariate regression analysis.
The patients had a mean age of 46.97±11.47 years¡ and most of the patients were female (80.5%)¡ 67.6% of whom were housewives. In general¡ 90% of the patients had diploma or lower education. Mean of physical dimension of QOL was lower and social and role dimensions were higher than other dimensions. Univariate analysis regression showed that QOL have significant negative relationship with age¡ disease duration¡ disease activity score (DAS) and significant positive relationship with education and health status. In multivariate regression analysis¡ health status¡ DAS¡ and education explained 71.7% of QOL.
Our results highlighted the influence of demographic and diseaserelated factors on QOL. Thus¡ they should be implemented in designing educational programs to increase QOL in RA patients.