Work disability is related to the presence of arthritis and not to a specific diagnosis. Results from a large early arthritis cohort in Argentina

The objective of the study was to evaluate work disability and its main associated factors in patients with early arthritis. Argentine Consortium for Early Arthritis (CONAART) is the first early arthritis cohort in Argentina. Patients with one or more swollen joints and less than 2 years of symptoms...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	Clinical rheumatology 2015-05, Vol.34 (5), p.929-933
Main Authors:	Citera, Gustavo, Ficco, Hernan Maldonado, Alamino, Rodolfo S. Pérez, Pra, Fernando Dal, Lencina, Veronica, Casalla, Luciana, Benegas, Mariana, Rillo, Oscar, Berman, Alberto, Barbaglia, Ana Lucia, Bellomío, Veronica, Salinas, Maria Haye, Alvarez, Ana C., Caeiro, Francisco, Marcos, Josefina, Salas, Adrian, Pellet, Antonio Catalán, Techera, Lorena, Secco, Anastasia, Paira, Sergio, Ceccato, Federico, Bedrán, Zaida, Soriano, Enrique R., Marin, Josefina, Salvatierra, Gabriela, Crespo, Maria Elena
Format:	Article
Language:	eng
Subjects:	Adult Argentina Arthritis - diagnostic imaging Arthritis - epidemiology Arthritis, Rheumatoid - diagnostic imaging Arthritis, Rheumatoid - epidemiology Cohort Studies Disability Evaluation Educational Status Female Foot Joints - diagnostic imaging Hand Joints - diagnostic imaging Humans Logistic Models Male Medicine Medicine & Public Health Middle Aged Multivariate Analysis Original Article Radiography Rheumatology Severity of Illness Index Surveys and Questionnaires Unemployment - statistics & numerical data
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Summary:	The objective of the study was to evaluate work disability and its main associated factors in patients with early arthritis. Argentine Consortium for Early Arthritis (CONAART) is the first early arthritis cohort in Argentina. Patients with one or more swollen joints and less than 2 years of symptoms duration were followed up prospectively in 13 departments of rheumatology. Social, demographic, familiar, clinical, and laboratory data were recollected. At first year and every year, X-rays of hands and feet were performed and working status and pharmaco-economic data were recollected. Work status (employed, unemployed, retired) and type of work were assessed by direct interview using a predesigned questionnaire. Eight hundred forty-eight patients were included, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) = 483 (57 %)and undifferentiated arthritis (UA) = 365 (43 %), 694 (81.8 %) were women, median age was 46 years (interquartile range (IQR) 35–55.7) and median symptoms duration 7 months (IQR 3–12). Patients with RA had significantly higher disease activity, worse functional capacity and quality of life, and more severe radiological damage compared to UA patients. However work disability (unemployed patient) was comparable between groups (RA = 21 % versus UA = 18.6 % p = NS). In both groups, unemployed patients had higher disease activity score of 28 joints (DAS28), worse Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) values, and less years of formal education ( p value
ISSN:	0770-3198 1434-9949