Health-related quality of life for patients with rheumatoid arthritis foot involvement.

HYPOTHESIS

Rheumatoid arthritis is a common disabling form of arthritis that frequently affects the hands and feet. With time, the majority of affected individuals will become disabled.

METHODS

Sixty-nine consecutively selected mild to moderately affected individuals with rheumatoid arthritis provided demographic data and agreed to complete the Short Musculoskeletal Function Assessment (SFMA) instrument. Focus group subjects selectively used minimally adaptive nonprescription footwear. Control subjects had similar disease expression, but did not alter their choice of footwear due to their disease.

RESULTS

Adult patients with rheumatoid arthritis demonstrate a significant negative impact on their quality of life with mild or moderate disease expression, as evidenced by poor scores in all six domains of the SFMA. Subjects who used even mildly adaptive nonprescription footwear demonstrated a statistically significant negative impact in mobility (p < .044) and functional index (p < .052) domains as compared with the control population having similar overall disease expression. Focus subjects also demonstrated a trend to less favorable scores in the arm and hand domain. Mean scores of the daily activity, emotional status, and bother index domains fared worse than population norms, but there was no statistical difference between subjects using, or not using, adaptive footwear.

CONCLUSIONS

Individuals affected with mild to moderate rheumatoid arthritis are disabled as compared with the general population. There is a severe negative impact on mobility and functional capacity when the disease process begins to affect their feet.