Impact and Prevalence of Depression and Anxiety in Rheumatoid Arthritis—A Cross-Sectional Study with Self-Reported Questionnaires
Abstract
Objective: This study aims to screen for depression and anxiety in a real-life sample of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and to observe whether RA phenotype characteristics and RA disease activity measures are associated with depression and anxiety. Methods: This cross-sectional study from a tertiary rheumatology hospital in Romania screened all patients with diagnosed RA that came for their one month disease follow-up for depression and anxiety using the Patient Health Questionnaire-9 (PHQ9) and Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), self-reported questionnaires. The follow-up captured the date of RA diagnosis, pharmacological treatment, clinical examination, blood sampling, and functional and radiographic assessment. The cut-off for positive screening of depression was a PHQ9 of 10 or more and a HADS-depression (D) of over 10, and the positive cut-off for anxiety was a HADS-anxiety (A) of over 10. Results: According to the medical histories, the prevalence of depression and anxiety in the 209 patients included was 10% and 8.1%, respectively, while the likely depression diagnosis according to PHQ was 34.4% and that according to HADS-D was 14.8%, while the likely anxiety diagnosis using the HADS-A was 32.5%. The subgroup of patients that positively screened for depression using the self-reported questionnaires PHQ9 and HADS-D had significantly higher DAS28, disease activity class, tender joint count, swollen joint count, patient global assessment, and functional…
How strong is the evidence?
Evidence Hub reads this as a cross-sectional, done in people. Its evidence level is 4 of 5 (Low · observational). Observational designs can show an association but not prove cause. Reported size: 209 participants or records.
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