Patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis may have a hard time finding relief if they suffer from depression or anxiety, according to a new report.
Research out of the Department of Psychological Medicine at King’s College London suggests that individuals with mental health issues may have poorer health outcomes when it comes treating their arthritis. For their study, researchers followed nearly 400 RA sufferers for two years and measured their depression/anxiety using the European Quality of Life 5 Dimensions scale. At the conclusion of the study, researchers revealed:
- Symptoms of depression or anxiety in patients with rheumatoid arthritis were associated with increased long-term RA disease activity.
- Patients with RA and mental health issues had increased overall physical disability.
- Patients with depression/anxiety reported more pain in their joints during an assessment.
- Although they all received the same treatment, those with RA exhibited a 50 percent decreased treatment response than those without mental health issues.
- Patients with depression or anxiety had a reduced likelihood of achieving RA remission at two years.
“Our results suggest that symptoms of depression/anxiety may reduce the body’s ability to respond to glucocorticoid treatment,” the researchers wrote.
Combined Treatment
After looking at the end results, researchers believe the findings suggest mental health management should be monitored and managed along with RA symptoms.
“People like us have been saying for ages that poor mental health interacts with physical health outcomes, but most services looking after people with RA don’t have any mental health input, despite 15% to 20% of patients meeting criteria for major depressive disorders,” said researcher Faith Matcham. “If our results are right, it means that this subgroup [has] much poorer RA outcomes, which may mean that they are more likely to be deemed treatment failures on [disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs]. It is possible that some of these patients end up on biologics, at considerable cost.”
Matcham was quick to note that the results don’t indicate a causal relationship between mental health and RA, but it’s clear that mental health, mood and belief that a person can get better all play a significant role in healing. She hopes the results spur more research on the correlation between mental health and RA treatment outcomes.
“What we hope to have achieved is a next step in adding to this literature base, resolving some of the methodological limitations and providing a base from which we can continue to investigate the complexity of this topic,” concluded.
Dr. Silverman comments
Mental health is a key aspect of recovery.
If you believe you can get better, you’ll inherently do things to expedite symptom relief. If you have a positive outlook, you’ll be more likely to complete your physical therapy, to get your exercise in, or to make healthy diet choices. All of these can contribute to RA relief.
Keeping tabs on mental health would certainly help improve RA treatment outcomes.
Related source: Medscape