Low back pain (LBP) and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) are common orthopedic problems, but there is little information on the importance of LBP in RA patients. The aim of this study was to investigate how LBP affects functional limitations, depressed mood, and quality of life in patients with RA. A complex questionnaire was answered by 281 RA patients, including questions about their RA and their experience of LBP. Functional limitations were assessed using the Hannover Activities of Daily Living questionnaire (ADL), depressed mood using the Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D) and health-related quality of life using the Short Form 12 health questionnaire (SF-12). The prevalence of LBP in RA patients was 53.4%. RA patients with LBP displayed a significantly higher degree of disability and depression than RA patients without LBP. There were no differences between the two groups with regard to the duration of RA, the number of operations or medication. LBP is an important factor for the physical and psychological behavior of RA patients. Therefore, the onset of LBP should not be overlooked or underestimated.
From Pubmed ID is 16982148
Posted in rheumatoid arthritis September 21st, 2006 by admin | No comments
This abstract was written by S reed and coleagues from the university of Washington in rainy Seattle in the USA.
Objective: To determine whether rheumatoid arthritis is associated with increased adverse obstetric or neonatal outcomes. Study design and setting: Washington State birth records and hospital discharge data between 1987 and 2001 identified a cohort of women with rheumatoid arthritis and a comparison group of women without rheumatoid arthritis. Pregnancy and neonatal outcomes were compared using general linear models for common outcomes, calculating approximate relative risks and 95% confidence intervals.
Results: There were 243 women with rheumatoid arthritis and 2559 controls. Infants of women with rheumatoid arthritis had increased risk of cesarean delivery (adjusted approximate relative risk, aRR=1.66, 95% CI (1.22, 2.26)), prematurity (aRR=1.78, 95% CI (1.21, 2.60)), and longer birth hospitalization (aRR=1.86, 95% CI (1.32, 2.60)) compared to those born to women without rheumatoid arthritis.
Conclusions: We speculate that the increased risks for cesarean delivery, prematurity, and longer hospitalization at birth among infants born to women with rheumatoid arthritis may be due to the pathophysiologic changes associated with rheumatoid arthritis or medications used to treat the disease.
This abstract comes from the April the 29th edition of maternity and child health Journal. the pubmed identifier is 16649008.
Posted in rheumatoid arthritis May 10th, 2006 by admin | No comments
This article is from A pawlik and colleagues from the Herczynska group at Szczecin in Poland (they can be found in the Pomeranian medical school department of pharmo-kinetics).
Rheumatoid arthritis is a chronic inflammatory disease in which interleukin (IL)-18 plays an important role. However, there are controversial reports on IL-18 promoter polymorphism as an independent marker of rheumatoid arthritis susceptibility. T
he aim of the present study was to examine the IL-18 promoter polymorphism in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and its association with disease susceptibility, activity and severity. We examined 309 patients with rheumatoid arthritis from a Polish population diagnosed according to the criteria of American College of Rheumatology. An allele-specific polymerase chain reaction was used for analysis of the polymorphisms in positions - 137 and - 607 in promoter region of IL-18 gene.
A significantly decreased number of subjects with AC/AC and AG/AG diplotypes was observed among rheumatoid arthritis patients as compared with healthy controls (OR - 0.51, 95%CI 0.28-0.95, P = 0.045) and (OR - 0.12, 95% CI 0.02-0.97, P = 0.042), respectively. Nevertheless, there was no significant association with disease activity, joint erosions, extra-articular manifestations, rheumatoid factor.
The above results suggest that IL-18-137 and - 607 promoter polymorphisms are not the significant factors influencing rheumatoid arthritis course and severity in a Polish population.
This abstract was sourced from pubmed id number 16671950. It is in the May issue, and the full article can be found from there if you have a subscription it is in the May 2006 edition and starts on page four hundred and fifteen.
Posted in rheumatoid arthritis May 8th, 2006 by admin | No comments
