[Quality of life in rheumatoid arthritis patients]

ABSTRACT

Rheumatoid arthritis is one of the most common chronic diseases with unknown causes and it is the most important cause of disability especially in adulthood that can have a considerable impact on patients' quality of life. This is a cross-sectional study. One hundred and ninety patients with rheumatoid arthritis referred to rheumatology clinic and rheumatology wards of Tehran university of Medical sciences' hospitals were randomly selected. The data were collected using a two-section questionnaire including demographic and disease characteristics, and quality of life questions. All analyzes were carried out using SPSS statistical software. The result showed that quality of life of%50 of patients was high and moderate and the other 50% had low quality of life. Approximately 50% of the patients reported that they have no problem in their physical, socio-economic, mental, sleep and rest, and general health regarding rheumatoid arthritis. There were significant relationships between age, marital status, employment, duration of the disease, physiotherapy, and family income with the quality of life. The results showed that quality of life in half of the patients [%50] was low. Determining the patients' quality of life result in designing proper programs and strategies for prevention and control of the disease that result in promoting quality of life