Rheumatoid Poor Outcomes Not Linked to Comorbidity Save

Disease activity leads to poor outcomes; but does comorbidity add to this?  A recent analysis suggests that while comorbidities do not affect long-term, functional outcomes, sociodemographic factors do affect outcomes in rheumatoid Arthritis (RA).

Using serial health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) scores over 10 years as the measure of functional outimes, researchers studied 2 RA cohorts UK prospectively. This was correlated with clinical variables (e.g., disease activity, rheumatoid nodules, erosions) and sociodemographic factors (e.g. ethnicity, deprivation) and comorbidity was measured by the Rheumatic Diseases Comorbidity Index (RDCI).

While they enrolled 2,701 RA patients only 63% had 5-year and 30% had10-year follow-up data.

They found now correlation between comorbidities and high HAQ scores (≥ 1.5) at 5 or 10 years.

By contrast, several sociodemographic factors (older age at onset, female gender, minority ethnicity) were associated with higher HAQ ≥ 1.5 at five and 10 years.

These data again underscore the importance of sociodemographic factors, independent of disease activity, as influencers of long-term poor functional outcomes in RA.