Quality of life in rheumatological patients: The impact of personality disorders.
OBJECTIVE
Rheumatological diseases are associated with lower quality of life (QoL) levels. Psychiatric disturbances are frequently observed in these patients. This study examined the impact of personality disorders on the QoL of patients with rheumatological diseases.


METHODS
The study sample consisted of 142 participants including patients suffering from rheumatological disease with a personality disorder (n = 30), without any personality disorder (n = 112), and healthy control participants without physical or psychiatric disorders (n = 60). The Structured Clinical Interview for Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, Fourth Edition (SCID-I) and the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM, Revised Third Edition Personality Disorders (SCID-II) were used to determine Axis I and Axis II psychiatric disorders, respectively. QoL levels were assessed by means of the World Health Organization QoL Assessment-Brief.


RESULTS
The subscale scores of physical health, psychological health, and social relationships were significantly lower in patients with rheumatological disease regardless of the existence of personality disorder compared with the control participants. Rheumatological patients with a personality disorder had significantly lower subscale scores of psychological health (p = 0.003) and social relationships (p < 0.003) compared with patients without any personality disorder.


CONCLUSIONS
Personality disorders seem to be a relevant factor that maybe associated with QoL in patients suffering from rheumatological disease.
Department of Psychiatry, Meram Faculty of Medicine, University of Necmettin Erbakan, Konya, Turkey farukuguz@gmail.com.
Faruk
F
Uguz
Department of Rheumatology, Meram Faculty of Medicine, University of Necmettin Erbakan, Konya, Turkey.
Adem
A
Kucuk
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Mevlana University, Konya, Turkey.
Erdinc
E
Cicek
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Mevlana University, Konya, Turkey.
Fatih
F
Kayhan
Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine, Sakarya University, Sakarya, Turkey.
Ali
A
Salli
Department of Psychiatry, Meram Faculty of Medicine, University of Necmettin Erbakan, Konya, Turkey.
Hatice
H
Guncu
Department of Psychiatry, Meram Faculty of Medicine, University of Necmettin Erbakan, Konya, Turkey.
Ali Savas
AS
Çilli
D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D015897:Comorbidity; D005260:Female; D005356:Fibromyalgia / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D006801:Humans; D008180:Lupus Erythematosus, Systemic / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D008297:Male; D010554:Personality Disorders / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000523:psychology*; D011788:Quality of Life / Q000523:psychology*
Quality of life; fibromyalgia; personality; rheumatoid arthritis; systemic lupus erythematosus