To evaluate health-related quality of life (HRQoL) and associated clinical, demographic and socioeconomic factors in a cohort of Ecuadorian patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).
A cross-sectional descriptive study evaluating (HRQoL) with the Spanish version of the Quality of Life Rheumatoid Arthritis (QoL-RA) instrument in patients diagnosed with RA according to the criteria of the American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism. In addition, the following data were obtained: age, sex, marital status, socioeconomic stratum, comorbidities, disease duration, medication, rheumatoid factor positivity, disease activity using the simplified disease activity index and physical functionality measured with the modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (MHAQ).
A total of 163 patients were assessed, the mean score of the QoL-RA scale was 6.84±1.5 points. The highest measurements were obtained in the domains of interaction (8.04±1.9) and support (8.01±2). The factors that were associated with the overall quality of life assessment were: functionality measured with MHAQ (r=-0.70; P<.001); disease duration in years (r=-0.178; P<.05); and disease activity (mean difference of 1.5; 95%CI: 1.09 to 1.91).
The patients evaluated had a good to moderate HRQoL. The domains related to support and social life were those with the highest scores and the lowest scores were related to pain and nervous tension. Functionality, duration, and disease activity were statistically associated with HRQoL.