Psychological distress and rheumatic disease

Psychological factors influence the results of self-reports of pain, function and global severity in questionnaires such as the HAQ, SF-36 and the WOMAC. Persons with psychological distress use more resources, including medications, and have greater rates of work disability and joint surgery. Psychological status is influenced only very slightly by disease severity and tends to remain relatively constant over the course of the rheumatic disease. The psychological status of patients with differing rheumatic diseases is similar, and patients with rheumatoid arthritis do not have special psychological problems or psychological characteristics.