2Sağlık Bakanlığı Göztepe Eğitim ve Araştırma Hastanesi, Fizik Tedavi ve Rehabilitasyon Kliniği, Romatoloji Bölümü, İSTANBUL Introduction: The aim of this study was to investigate the relationships among disease activities, demographic data, pain according to visual analog scale (VAS) and quality of life of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and compare the results for groups under and over 55 years old.
Materials and Method: One hundred and forty one patients who had rheumatoid arthritis (RA) according to American College of Rheumatology (ACR) criteria were involved in the study. Disease Activity Score (DAS 28), pain according to VAS were calculated, their functional status were evaluated with Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), radiographs were graded using Larsen scale and demographic data was recorded.
Results: RA patients who is above 55 years old, additional disease was %67.9, hypertension was %41.1, coronery artery disease was%16.1, in the younger group same data was %24.7, %11.8, %5.9 in order. Rheumatoid factor(RF) was positive in %60.7 patients over 55 but this positivity was only %38.1 under 55 years of old. Pain due to VAS was 40.78±26.69 at the younger group but it was 31.15±21.23 at the geriatric population. There were no significant difference between, disease activity, Larsen scores, quality of life and functional status.
Conclusion: There is no significant difference in DAS 28,HAQ and Larsen Scores between younger and older RA patients. Additional disease, hypertantion, coronery artery disease are more in older population. Pain due to VAS was significantly higher in patients who are under 55 years of age.
Keywords : Rheumatoid arthritis, Pain, Disease activity, Quality of life