title: Cognitive deficits early in the course of rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  The aim was to examine the severity and prevalence of cognitive difficulties in persons with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) within the first three years of diagnosis.
  
  
  METHODS
  One hundred consecutive RA patients aged 28-67 years (90% women) were administered a battery of 6 neuropsychological tests yielding 14 cognitive indices. Self-reported measures of trait anxiety, depression, impact of disease on daily activities, and pain severity were also obtained along with physician-rated disease severity.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Twenty percent of RA patients were classified as cognitively impaired, defined as age- and education-adjusted scores at least 1.5 standard deviations below the population mean on 3 or more cognitive indices. Impaired performance, controlling for age, education, and premorbid cognitive capacity, was detected primarily on measures of short-term memory, immediate and delayed episodic recall, and phonemic fluency. There were modest negative associations between cognitive indices and measures of perceived disease severity (pain level, impact of disease on daily functionality, and overall health quality).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Cognitive deficits on several domains are frequently encountered in relatively young RA patients during the first few years of the disease and may need to be taken into account as important correlates of disease severity and progression.
authors.affiliation: a Medical School , University of Crete , Iraklion , Crete , Greece.
authors.forename: Panagiotis
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Simos
authors.affiliation: a Medical School , University of Crete , Iraklion , Crete , Greece.
authors.forename: Georgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Ktistaki
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychology , University of Crete , Iraklion , Crete , Greece.
authors.forename: Georgia
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Dimitraki
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychology , University of Crete , Iraklion , Crete , Greece.
authors.forename: Emmanouil
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Papastefanakis
authors.affiliation: a Medical School , University of Crete , Iraklion , Crete , Greece.
authors.forename: Nikolaos
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Kougkas
authors.affiliation: a Medical School , University of Crete , Iraklion , Crete , Greece.
authors.forename: Antonios
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Fanouriakis
authors.affiliation: a Medical School , University of Crete , Iraklion , Crete , Greece.
authors.forename: Irini
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Gergianaki
authors.affiliation: a Medical School , University of Crete , Iraklion , Crete , Greece.
authors.forename: George
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Bertsias
authors.affiliation: a Medical School , University of Crete , Iraklion , Crete , Greece.
authors.forename: Prodromos
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Sidiropoulos
authors.affiliation: b Department of Psychology , University of Crete , Iraklion , Crete , Greece.
authors.forename: Evangelos C
authors.initials: EC
authors.lastname: Karademas
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications / Q000503:physiopathology*; D060825:Cognitive Dysfunction / Q000209:etiology / Q000503:physiopathology*; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012720:Severity of Illness Index
keywords: Autoimmune disorders; Executive function; Memory; Processing speed; Verbal fluency