Socioeconomic factors and self-reported health outcomes in African Americans with rheumatoid arthritis from the Southeastern United States: the contribution of childhood socioeconomic status.

BACKGROUND: There is abundant evidence that low socioeconomic status (SES) is associated with worse health outcomes among people with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA); however, the influence of socioeconomic disadvantage in early life has yet to be studied within that population. METHODS: Data originated from the cross-sectional arm of the Consortium Evaluation of African-Americans with Rheumatoid Arthritis (CLEAR II), which recruited African-Americans with RA from six sites in the Southeastern United States. We used linear regression models to evaluate associations of parental homeownership status and educational level at participant time of birth with participant-reported fatigue (Visual Analog scale, cm), pain (Visual Analog scale, cm), disability (Health Assessment Questionnaire) and helplessness (Rheumatology Attitudes Index), independently of participant homeownership status and educational level. Models included random effects to account for intra-site correlations, and were adjusted for variables identified using backward selection, from: age, disease-duration, sex, medication use, body-mass index, smoking history. RESULTS: Our sample included 516 CLEAR II participants with full data on demographics and covariates. 89% of participants were women, the mean age was 54.7 years and mean disease duration was 10.8 years. In age adjusted models, parental non-homeownership was associated with greater fatigue (ß = 0.75, 95% CI = 0.36-1.14), disability (ß = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.04-0.19) and helplessness (ß = 0.12, 95% CI = 0.03-0.21), independently of participant homeownership and education; parental education had a further small influence on self-reported fatigue (ß = 0.20, 95% CI = 0.15-0.24). CONCLUSIONS: Parental homeownership, and to a small extent parental education, had modest but meaningful relationships with self-reported health among CLEAR II participants.

Independent associations of socioeconomic factors with disability and pain in adults with knee osteoarthritis.

BACKGROUND: The purpose of this study is to explore the relationship between function, pain and stiffness outcomes with individual and community socioeconomic status (SES) measures among individuals with radiographic knee osteoarthritis (rOA). METHODS: Cross-sectional data from the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project were analyzed for adults age 45 and older with knee rOA (n = 782) and a subset with both radiographic and symptomatic knee OA (n = 471). Function, pain and stiffness were measured using the Western Ontario and McMasters Universities Index of Osteoarthritis (WOMAC). Individual SES measures included educational attainment (<12 years, ≥12 years) and occupation type (managerial, non-managerial), while community SES was measured using Census block group poverty rate (<12%, 12-25%, ≥25%). SES measures were individually and simultaneously examined in linear regression models adjusting for age, gender, race, body mass index (BMI), occupational physical activity score (PAS), comorbidity count, and presence of hip symptoms. RESULTS: In analyses among all individuals with rOA, models which included individual SES measures were observed to show that occupation was significantly associated with WOMAC Function (ß =2.91, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 0.68-5.14), WOMAC Pain (ß =0.93, 95% CI = 0.26-1.59) and WOMAC Total scores (ß =4.05, 95% CI = 1.04-7.05), and education was significantly associated with WOMAC Function (ß =3.57, 95% CI = 1.25-5.90) and WOMAC Total (ß =4.56, 95% CI = 1.41-7.70) scores. In multivariable models including all SES measures simultaneously, most associations were attenuated. However, statistically significant results for education remained between WOMAC Function (ß =2.83, 95% CI = 0.38-5.28) and WOMAC Total (ß =3.48, 95% CI = 0.18-6.78), as well as for the association between occupation and WOMAC Pain (ß =0.78, 95% CI = 0.08-1.48). In rOA subgroup analyses restricted to those with symptoms, we observed a significant increase in WOMAC Pain (ß =1.36, 95% CI = 0.07-2.66) among individuals living in a block group with poverty rates greater than 25%, an association that remained when all SES measures were considered simultaneously (ß =1.35, 95% CI = 0.06-2.64). CONCLUSIONS: Lower individual and community SES are both associated with worse function and pain among adults with knee rOA.

Impact of race and diagnostic label on older adults' emotions, illness beliefs, and willingness to help a family member with osteoarthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To examine how race and the diagnostic label of Osteoarthritis (OA) affects older adults' emotions, illness beliefs, and willingness to help a family member. METHODS: African American and White older adults were randomly assigned to read vignettes describing a sister suffering from chronic pain and disability, either with or without the OA label. Race × diagnostic label ANOVAs were conducted. RESULTS: Compared to Whites, African Americans were more optimistic that OA could improve with health care, and showed greater willingness to help their sister. The OA label had little impact on emotions, beliefs, or willingness to help. African Americans rated the sister as having more control of their problem than Whites without the OA label, but providing the diagnosis eliminated this difference. DISCUSSION: The diagnostic label of OA had little effect on these older adults, but racial differences indicate that cultural values regarding family caregiving are important in arthritis care.

Social determinants and osteoarthritis outcomes.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is one of the most frequently occurring musculoskeletal diseases, posing a significant public health problem due to its impact on pain and disability. Traditional risk factors fail to account for all of the risk observed for OA outcomes. In recent years, our view of disease causation has broadened to include health risks that are created by an individual's socioeconomic circumstances. Early research into social determinants has focused on social position and explored factors related to the individual such as education, income and occupation. Results from these investigations suggest that low education attainment and nonprofessional occupation are associated with poorer arthritis outcomes. More recently, research has expanded to examine how one's neighborhood socioeconomic environment may be relevant to OA outcomes. This narrative review proposes a framework to help guide our understanding of how social context may interact with pathophysiological processes and individual-level variables to influence health outcomes in those living with OA.

The association of disability and pain with individual and community socioeconomic status in people with hip osteoarthritis.

OBJECTIVE: To examine associations between disability and socioeconomic status (SES) in persons with hip radiographic OA (rOA) or symptomatic OA (sxOA) in the Johnston County Osteoarthritis Project. METHODS: Cross-sectional analyses were conducted on individuals with hip rOA (708) or sxOA (251). rOA was defined as Kellgren-Lawrence ≥ 2. Educational attainment (<12 years or ≥12 years) and occupation (managerial or non-managerial) were individual SES measures. Census block group poverty rate (<12%, 12-25%, ≥25%) was the community SES measure. Disability was measured by the HAQ-DI and the WOMAC (function, pain, total). Covariates included age, gender, race, BMI, and presence of knee symptoms. Analyses examined associations of disability with each SES effect separately, followed by multivariable analyses using all SES variables, adjusting for covariates. RESULTS: In models with single SES variables adjusted for covariates, WOMAC scores were associated significantly (p<0.05) with low educational attainment and non-managerial occupation in rOA and sxOA. HAQ was significantly associated with low educational attainment in rOA and sxOA and with high community poverty in rOA. In models including all SES variables, the patterns of association were similar although with diminished significance. There was indication that education was more strongly associated with HAQ and WOMAC function, while occupation was more strongly associated with WOMAC pain. CONCLUSION: Our data provide evidence that individual SES is an important factor to consider when examining disability and pain outcomes in older adults with hip OA.