Background Rheumatoid arthritis (RA)'s prevalence increases with age and the recognition of functional disability related to RA could be challenging in elderly patients (1).

Objectives In this study, we aimed to look at the correlation between disease activity and the functional disability by using HAQ score in elderly RA patients.

Methods Elderly RA patients, ≥65 years old at their routine visits were included to the study. The composite “disease activity score” in 28 joints (DAS-28) and “Physician Global Assessment” (PhGA) were used to determine disease activity. Health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) scores were calculated to describe the functional disability and compared across the disease activity groups according to DAS-28.

Results Two hundred and fifty eight RA patients with the mean age of 71±5 (65–90) were included. Seropositivity rate was 71% and 47% of the patients had erosive disease. Joint deformity was seen in 72 (28%) of patients and 28 (11%) patients had undergone total arthroplasty. Lung involvement (8.5%) and Sjogren's syndrome (7.4%) were found as the most frequent extra-articular manifestations. Hypertension (66%) and osteoporosis (36%) were the common co-morbidities. The proportion of patients with high and moderate disease activity was found as 70%. HAQ and PhGA scores were significantly correlated with the disease activity (Figure).

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Figure 1.

HAQ and PhGA distribution in disease activity subgroups. Both of them were found correlated with disease activity (p: 0.000).

Conclusions We provided a novel data concerning the usefulness of HAQ for prediction of disease activity in RA patients who are elderly as well. In the future, our report will be supported by the studies which suggest that HAQ score improve with effective treatment in elderly RA patients.

References

1. Uhlig T, Loge JH, Kristiansen IS, Kvien TK. Quantification of reduced health-related quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis compared to the general population. J Rheumatol 2007;34: 1241–1247.

References

Disclosure of Interest None declared