Rheumatoid arthritis and schizophrenia: a negative association at a dimensional level.
There is wide evidence for a decreased risk of rheumatoid arthritis in patients with schizophrenia. Nevertheless, very few studies have looked at the risk of schizophrenia in a group of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. We prospectively investigated, with the SCL-90R, 220 consecutive outpatients with rheumatoid arthritis and 196 consecutive outpatients with various medical conditions, half of them suffering from psoriatic arthritis (a medical condition close to rheumatoid arthritis). The SCL-90R appears to be a valuable tool to distinguish patients with schizophrenia from the outpatients of our sample, the former having more "paranoid ideation" (p = 0.004) and more "psychoticism" (p < 0.001) than the latter. The "paranoid ideation" dimension was significantly lower (25% decrease) in the sample of patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared to the combined control group (p = 0.005), ratings under the median value being more frequent in the former group (p = 0.025). Confounding factors might not explain this difference according to the regression logistic analysis performed. As patients with rheumatoid arthritis have a lower score of paranoid ideation than controls in our sample, even after controlling for age, gender and severity of the disease, these data represent further evidence for a decreased risk of schizophrenia in individuals with rheumatoid arthritis.
Gorwood
P
P
Hôpital Louis Mourier (AP-HP), Service de Psychiatrie, 178 rue des Renouillers, 92700 Colombes, France. philip.gorwood@lmr.ap-hop-paris.fr
Pouchot
J
J
Vinceneux
P
P
Puéchal
X
X
Flipo
R M
RM
De Bandt
M
M
Adès
J
J
D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000553:Ambulatory Care; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics / Q000523:psychology; D002648:Child; D015897:Comorbidity; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005602:France; D020022:Genetic Predisposition to Disease / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008875:Middle Aged; D010555:Personality Inventory / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D011594:Psychometrics; D012306:Risk; D012559:Schizophrenia / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000235:genetics; D012563:Schizophrenia, Paranoid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000235:genetics; D012565:Schizophrenic Psychology