Rheumatoid arthritis in Lithuania: need for external help from the onset of disease.

PURPOSE: To estimate the burden of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) in Vilnius, Lithuania, the former socialist country in Eastern Europe, in terms of patients' need for help from other persons and to explore the factors which influence the need for physical help. METHOD: Some 537 patients with RA, registered in Vilnius, answered questions about socio-demographics, disease characteristics, categories of required help, the use of major appliances and adaptations, underwent a clinical examination and filled in the modified health assessment questionnaire (MHAQ) and arthritis impact measurement scale (AIMS). Logistic regression was used to assess which variables from those explored influenced the need for physical help. RESULTS: A total of 230 (42.9%) patients out of 537 were requiring help from other persons, and the proportion was equally high in all the disease duration categories. A quarter of the patients (25.1%) were classified to ACR III and IV functional impairment groups. In multivariate logistic regression model the risk to become dependent on external help ultimately depended on MHAQ (10.32 [CI 95% 6.57; 16.23], p < 0.001) but the use of joint stabilization measures (1.97 [CI 95% 1.06; 3.64], p < 0.01) and 28 tender joints count (1.02 [CI 95% 1.0; 1.06], p < 0.05) were also important. CONCLUSIONS: Nearly half of the patients reported being dependent on others and a quarter of patients were in definite need for that. The functional impairment is the most important risk factor, although identifying the group using joint stabilization measures routinely may be of practical value in order to define the risk group which may need the external help in future.

Psychosocial environment for the integrated education opportunities of the disabled in Lithuania.

BACKGROUND: The policy of the diminution of the social isolation of the disabled is the main objective of the strategy of the EU new policy concerning the disabled. Lithuanian society faces this objective as well. For this reason, this study aiming at providing the theoretical basis for and predicting the possible psycho-social environment in an integrated education system, as well as at the evaluation of the reasons for the formation of a positive approach to the disabled, is especially relevant, since it creates the prerequisites for the optimisation of the process of the integration of disabled schoolchildren into the general system of education. METHOD: The sample of the study consisted of 2471 children from the same schools: not integrated (1958), integrated (126) and special schools (382). Empirical methods: questionnaire poll, comparative analysis. The statistical analysis was carried out using SAS. RESULTS: Our study showed that the majority of schoolchildren without disabilities and disabled schoolchildren have positive intentions for interpersonal interactions (>82%) and positive emotions (>69%) independently of the discrepant character of interpersonal contacts, different conditions of education and family life, and despite of low level of knowledge. CONCLUSION: The results of the study confirmed positive intentions for interpersonal interaction between disabled schoolchildren and schoolchildren without disabilities, as well as a positive character of emotions, and disprove the unsound myth of the opponents of the social integration of the disabled stating that disabled children in comprehensive schools would undoubtedly experience offence from their peers without disabilities.