Alexithymia, depression, anxiety levels and quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis [Article]

Abstract

Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory disease that manifests itself with joint swelling and pain. Although alexithymia is more commonly seen in painful rheumatic conditions such as RA, there is limited clinical data about the relations with other psychiatric conditions such as depression and anxiety and their impact on quality of life. We aimed to assess the level of alexithymia, depression and anxiety and their effects on quality of life in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Materials and methods: A hundred forty-eight patients with RA and 100 healthy subjects were included in the study. After physical examination of the patients, Toronto Alexithymia Scale-20 (TAS-20), Beck Depression Inventory (BDI) and Beck Anxiety Inventory (BAI) were performed to determine levels of alexithymia depression and anxiety, respectively. The World Health Organization Quality of Life Scale Abbreviated Version (WHOQoL-BREF) was used to assess the quality of life. Disease Activity Score Calculator for Rheumatoid Arthritis-28 (DAS-28) was performed to evaluate disease activity. Results: The prevalence of alexithymia was 31.1% in patients with RA. Alexithymia was statistically significantly higher in the RA than the control group (p < 0.05). 41.9% (n=62) of the patients with RA were diagnosed with depression. 20.9% (n=31) of the patients had severe anxiety symptoms. Although there was no statistically significant difference between alexithymia and depression scores, disease activity scores (p > 0.05) in patient with RA. The anxiety scores were significantly higher (p < 0.05) in patients with RA. RA patients manifested poorer scores in all domains of WHOQoL-BREF than the control subjects (p < 0.05). Conclusion: In this clinical trial it has been demonstrated that regardless of disease activity, alexithymia, symptoms of depression and anxiety are more commonly seen in RA patients that can negatively affect the quality of life. Further studies are needed to confirm this association.