Introduction: Somatic pathology of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) combined with nonpsychotic mental disorders (NMD) leads to deterioration in the quality of life. The aim: We aimed to examine the quality of life of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and nonpsychotic mental disorders.
Materials and methods: We formed two clinical groups of observation of the patients with rheumatoid arthritis and nonpsychotic mental disorders. First group (GA) included participants with duration of RA for 1-5 years, second group (GB) included those with duration of RA for 5-10 years. For assessment we used the Hamilton Rating Scale for Depression (HRSD), Hamilton Rating Scale for Anxiety (HRSA) and the Quality of Life Index developed by J.E. Mezzich (QLI). All patients received basic treatment, as well as antidepressants, anxiolytics, vitamin therapy and psychotherapy, depending on the form of nonpsychotic mental disorders.
Results: Study of the life quality showed that for the examined patients the quality of life was significantly lower in comparison with the control group. Mainly, for GA partners the overall assessment of life quality after treatment improved by 12,1% and the positive effect was probable. The greatest positive changes for the first group included increasing of physical well-being points by 2,5 and psychological/emotional well-being - by 2,1 points(p<0,05). Mainly, for GB patients overall quality of life improved by 14,9%. Major positive changes were identified in psychological/emotional well-being - 2,93 points, physical well-being by 2,47 points, self-care and independent functioning by 2,09 points, and disability which increased by 2,06 points (p<0,05).
Conclusions: The patients with rheumatoid arthritis and nonpsychotic mental disorders have a significant decline in quality of life based on all indicators. The general assessment of the life quality of the first basic clinical group surveyed was 62,2 ± 1,33, while for the second basic clinical group surveyed - 57,0 ± 1,47. The increase in the duration of the RA disease significantly weakens the general working capacity by 0,83 points p<0,05, self-service and independence of the patients by 0,80 points, p<0,05, psychological and emotional well-being by 0,75 points, p<0,05, interpersonal interaction at 0,91 points, p<0,05.The overall quality of life of the patients with duration of RA for 1-5 years and NMD after treatment was 74,1% ± 0,93, for the patients with duration of RA for 5-10 years and NMD after treatment was 71,9% ± 1,20 (p<0,05).