Patients with rheumatologic disorders often have comorbidities that complicate their psychological well-being. In this study, we looked at 216 patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), systemic lupus erythematous (SLE), psoriatic arthritis (PsA), and Sjogren's syndrome (SS) to determine the prevalence of anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance, fibromyalgia (FM), obesity (BMI greater than 23), and gastroesophageal disease (GERD) and the correlation between FM, BMI, disease activity measure, known as Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3 (RAPID3).
Study participants were 216 rheumatology patients seen at the UCF Pegasus Health Clinic from November 2011 to May 2014 with one or more of the following diseases: RA, SS, SLE, or PsA. 116 had rheumatoid arthritis, 27 with systemic lupus erythematous, 22 with psoriatic arthritis, 20 with Sjogren's syndrome, and 31 with more than one diagnosis. Variables that were collected from patients' charts included RAPID3 scores, patient demographics (age, sex), BMI, presence of GERD, and presence of FM. Each patient was randomly assigned, unique and had an unidentifiable study number.
Anxiety, depression, sleep disturbance and obesity were found to be more prevalent in patients with Sjogren's syndrome, and fibromyalgia was noted to be more prevalent in patients with more than 1 diagnosis. The presence of fibromyalgia was significantly correlated with higher RAPID3 scores in all patients except those with PsA. Significant correlation among higher BMI and greater RAPID3 scores was found for patients with rheumatoid arthritis and for patients with Sjogren's syndrome.
Our study showed an increased prevalence of anxiety in patients with Sjogren's syndrome. Fibromyalgia was found to be related to higher disease activity scores. In RA and SS patients, BMI was significantly correlated with higher RAPID3 scores. These results provide a basis for future studies to evaluate these correlations in more detail.