Mental Distress Common in Adults with Arthritis

September 10, 2004

Fri Sep 10, 2004 03:35 PM ET

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many adults with arthritis suffer frequent

mental distress, and this goes hand-in-hand with an impaired quality of

life, according to researchers from the Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention, Atlanta.

However, the findings also suggest that patients can do some things to

improve their situation.

Dr. Tara W. Strine and colleagues looked at data from the 2001 Behavioral

Risk Factor Surveillance System, which included 48,577 participants with

arthritis who were 45 years of age or older. The team defined frequent

mental distress as having at least 14 self-reported mentally unhealthy days

in the preceding 30 days.

They found that 13.4 percent of participants with arthritis had frequent

mental distress, compared with 5.4 percent of subjects without arthritis who

were included in the surveillance study.

Among the people with arthritis, those with frequent mental distress were

1.7 times more likely to be underweight than normal weight, and 1.2 times

more likely to be obese, than those without frequent mental distress, the

researchers report in the medical journal Arthritis and Rheumatism.

In addition, arthritic subjects with frequent mental distress were 1.6 times

more likely to be inactive.

This group was also more likely to report their health as fair or poor and

to have at least 14 physically unhealthy days in the past 30 days, compared

with other people who had arthritis but did not suffer frequent mental

distress.

" New public health interventions need to be developed that address the

specific challenges of those with mental distress and arthritis, " the

researchers write. " In addition, physicians should encourage their patients

with arthritis and mental distress to participate in current educational and

behavioral interventions proven to have both physical and psychological

benefits. "

SOURCE: Arthritis and Rheumatism, August 15, 2004.

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