Is anxiety a more common disorder than depression in rheumatoid arthritis?
OBJECTIVE
As most of the previous studies were done to study depressive disorders and/or symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, this study was performed to investigate whether anxiety disorder is as common as depressive disorder in these patients and to look for the socio-demographic as well as the clinical characteristics of the patients developing these disorders.


METHODS
A detailed physical assessment of 80 patients with rheumatoid arthritis was performed. Also psychiatric assessment was done using Research Diagnostic Criteria for the International Classification of Diseases-10 (ICD-10). In addition, patients answered a Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) to assess their functional capacity.


RESULTS
Depression was diagnosed in 66.2% of the total sample while anxiety was diagnosed in 70%. Functional disability, social stress and morning stiffness were the factors highly associated with depression. Using multiple regression analysis, anxiety was highly associated with depression as well as Ritchie articular index.


CONCLUSIONS
Psychiatric illness is a relatively common disorder in patients with RA, with a frequency higher than that of other general medical conditions. Anxiety is a more common disorder than depression. The first step in correct management is recognition of anxiety and depression so that appropriate treatment can be tried. Particular attention has to be paid to social stress and lack of social support.
el-Miedany
Yasser M
YM
Rheumatology and Rehabilitation Dept., Ain Shams University, Cairo, Egypt. miedanycrd@yahoo.com
el-Rasheed
Amany Haroun
AH
D000328:Adult; D001007:Anxiety / Q000453:epidemiology*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000523:psychology*; D003863:Depression / Q000453:epidemiology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D016017:Odds Ratio; D015995:Prevalence; D012307:Risk Factors