The evaluation of the functioning and of the quality of life of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Purpose: It has been reported that Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) affects 0.5-1% of the adult population in Poland. The condition is two or three times more common among women than among men. The majority of the onsets of disease occur between the ages of 40 and 60. The aim of this study was to assess the functioning and quality of life of patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis treated in Rheumatoid Special Clinic in Poznań, Poland. The specific question was: does the functioning and the quality of life of RA patients depend on demographic variables (gender and age) and duration of the disease?

Material and methods: The study sample consisted of 168 RA patients, including 123 women (73.2%) and 45 men (26.8%). To assess the functioning and the quality of life the Polish version of the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales 2 (AIMS 2) was applied. The Arthritis Impact Measurement Scales 2 was translated into Polish according to standardized approach (internal consistency reliability for the global score, alpha = 0.78). AIMS 2 scores range from 0-10, with 0 representing high functioning and quality of life, 10 representing poor functioning and quality of life.

Results: The results showed that the mean scores on the AIMS 2 for physical state and mobility was 3.53, which is within the medium section of the average measurement of the quality of life. The quality of life depended on the sex of the patients. Women scored significantly lower in the emotional area than men. Youngest patients demonstrated higher evaluation of quality of life in the area of bending and walking (4.4). Life satisfaction of people with RA is higher among the patients suffering longer than 5 years.