Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease that causes inflammation of the joints and surrounding tissues. More than 1.3 million adults in the U.S. suffer from RA with 75% of those afflicted being women. Patients with RA experience pain, stiffness, swelling, and deterioration of joints. Severe chronic pain accompanied by progressive joint destruction, disability, and disfigurement is known to increase the risk of experiencing emotional disturbances, with RA patients twice as likely to be depressed as people in the general population. Emotional wellness for persons with RA plays a critical role in disease course and disability.
Researchers at Nagoya City University and Nagoya University Graduate Schools of Medicine in Japan studied the interrelationship between levels of depression symptoms, C-reactive protein (CRP) level, and pain, confirming a significant positive association between depressive symptoms and CRP level in RA. A second study by researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada further explored depression in spouses of persons with RA, finding that higher levels of spouse depression predicted worse disease course for the person with RA over a 1-year period. Both studies are published in the August issue of Arthritis Care & Research, a journal of the American College of Rheumatology.
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