Fatigue and psychosocial variables in autoimmune rheumatic disease and chronic fatigue syndrome: A cross-sectional comparison.

OBJECTIVE: Fatigue is common in autoimmune rheumatic diseases (ARD). This study compared symptom-related cognitions, beliefs, behaviours, quality of sleep, lack of acceptance and distress in participants with ARD such as rheumatoid arthritis (RA), seronegative spondyloarthropathy (SpA), and connective tissue disease (CTD), and participants with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). METHODS: 303 participants with RA, SpA, CTD and CFS completed questionnaire measures of fatigue, social adjustment, cognitive-behavioural responses, lack of acceptance, distress and quality of sleep. The RA, SpA and CTD groups were first compared with each other. They were then combined into one group and compared with the CFS group. RESULTS: There were no statistically significant differences between the RA, SpA or CTD groups for any of the measures. The CFS group was more fatigued, reported more distress and sleep disturbance and had worse social adjustment than the ARD group after adjustment for age and illness duration. After adjustment for fatigue, age, and illness duration, the CFS group scored more highly on lack of acceptance and avoidance/resting behaviour while the ARD group showed significantly higher levels of catastrophizing, damage beliefs, and symptom focusing than the CFS group. CONCLUSION: Fatigue in rheumatic diseases may be perpetuated by similar underlying transdiagnostic processes. The ARD and CFS groups showed similarities but also key differences in their responses to symptoms. Specific aspects of treatment may need to be tailored towards each group. For example, lack of acceptance and avoidance behaviour may be particularly important in perpetuating fatigue in CFS.

Are depression and anxiety associated with disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis? A prospective study.

BACKGROUND: This study aimed to investigate the impact of depression and anxiety scores on disease activity at 1-year follow-up in people with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA). METHODS: The Hospital Anxiety Depression Scale (HADS) was used to measure depression and anxiety in a cross-section of RA patients. The primary outcome of interest was disease activity (DAS28), measured one-year after baseline assessment. Secondary outcomes were: tender joint count, swollen joint count, erythrocyte sedimentation rate and patient global assessment, also measured one-year after baseline assessment. We also examined the impact of baseline depression and anxiety on odds of reaching clinical remission at 1-year follow-up. RESULTS: In total, 56 RA patients were eligible for inclusion in this analysis. Before adjusting for key demographic and disease variables, increased baseline depression and anxiety were associated with increased disease activity at one-year follow-up, although this was not sustained after adjusting for baseline disease activity. There was a strong association between depression and anxiety and the subjective components of the DAS28 at 12-month follow-up: tender joint count and patient global assessment. After adjusting for age, gender, disease duration and baseline tender joint count and patient global assessment respectively, higher levels of depression and anxiety at baseline were associated with increased tender joint count and patient global assessment scores at 1-year follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Symptoms of depression and anxiety have implications for disease activity, as measured via the DAS28, primarily due to their influence on tender joints and patient global assessment. These findings have implications for treatment decision-making as inflated DAS28 despite well controlled inflammatory disease markers may indicate significant psychological morbidity and related non-inflammatory pain, rather than true disease activity.

Drug treatment modalities in patients with chronic osteoarthritis of the hip or knee.

OBJECTIVE: A survey was conducted to determine drug treatments taken by patients with chronic osteoarthritis (OA) of the hip or knee. METHODS: Data was collected at outpatient clinics at the Royal London and Newham University Hospitals, Bancroft Road, London between November 2001 and February 2003. RESULTS: Two hundred patients (mean age of 65.8 years, mean OA duration of 4.4 years) completed the survey; 175 with OA of knee and 25 with OA of hip. The majority of patients (64%) required a combination of drug treatments, either prescribed or self-medicated, to manage their disease. Of the total patients, 76% were taking paracetamol, 40% were taking an NSAID and 39% were taking complementary therapy (such as cod liver oil or glucosamine) either as monotherapy or in combination with other drugs. Of this patients 39% who previously used an NSAID had discontinued, primarily due to side effects, especially those of the gastrointestinal tract. CONCLUSION: The survey results demonstrate that there is a need to individualize treatment for each patient, which is consistent with published recommendations for the management of OA.

Unusual cause of painful shoulder in an elderly woman with rheumatoid arthritis.

The painful shoulder is a very common condition encountered in the rheumatology clinic with rotator cuff disorders, glenohumeral disorders, acromioclavicular joint disease and referred neck pain being the most common causes. Other rare causes have to be considered in the presence of "red flag" indicators. We describe a case of a patient with mild rheumatoid arthritis and a past medical history of stage 2C epithelial ovarian carcinoma who presented to the rheumatology clinic with a painful shoulder and who was initially diagnosed with rotator cuff tendinopathy. When seen 3 months later she was found to have a 15 x 10-cm firm, non-tender soft tissue mass over the right scapula and X-rays showed a large lytic mass destroying much of the upper border of the scapula, suggestive of metastasis. Bone metastases in patients with ovarian carcinoma are very rare; they occur in about 2% of cases and are invariably predictors of poor prognosis. To our knowledge, this is the first case of ovarian cancer metastasised to the scapula. We suggest that rheumatologists should be aware of the differential diagnosis of painful shoulder and look for "red flag" indicators in patients with known rheumatic conditions.