Quality of life

A Danish survey of people with inflammatory rheumatic diseases has shown that one-fifth were worried about being in the work environment during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, with many more reporting other concerns.

Patients with early rheumatoid arthritis who report higher HAQ-measured disability after taking DMARDs for a year are at greater risk for all-cause mortality than those who report lower disability scores, indicate findings from the Canadian Early Arthritis Cohort.

Multiple factors, such as functional ability and treatment response, influence the likelihood of job loss and absenteeism by patients with rheumatoid arthritis who are treated with methotrexate or biologic DMARDs, study findings indicate.

People with rheumatoid arthritis benefit from individually-tailored physical exercise programs, with improvements seen after 3 months across a range of variables including cognitive function, cardiovascular fitness, muscle strength, and body composition, researchers report.

Advisory Board member Susan Bartlett discusses the prevalence of mental health comorbidities in patients with inflammatory arthritis, and their impact on disease symptoms and quality of life.

Tanaka Y et al. Arthritis Res Ther 2018; 20: 151. doi: 10.1186/s13075-018-1647-3

Verhoef LM et al. Rheumatology (Oxford) 2018: key205. doi: 10.1093/rheumatology/key205

Compagnoni R, Gualtierotti R, Randelli P. Adv Ther 2018. doi: 10.1007/s12325-018-0750-9