Disability of Arm Shoulder and Hand Questionnaire in rheumatoid arthritis patients: relationship with disease activity, HAQ, SF-36

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic disease that causes disability. Disability and quality of life indexes are used in the assessment and treatment of patients with RA. Disability of Arm, Shoulder and Hand Questionnaire (DASH) is a patient-based outcome measurement developed to evaluate the upper extremities. The aim of this study was to investigate the clinical relevance of DASH in RA patients and the relationship between disease activity and health-related quality of life measurements. One hundred and sixty-six RA patients were included in the study. Disease activity was measured with Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28), Simplified Disease Activity Index (SDAI), and Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI). The DASH questionnaire, Short-Form 36 (SF-36), and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) were completed by all patients. The DASH score moderately correlated with DAS28 (r = 0.672), SDAI (r = 0.586) and CDAI (r = 0.565). When the patients were grouped according to the activity obtained using the three disease activity measurements, DASH score was statistically significantly higher with higher disease activity (P < 0.001). A high correlation (r = 0.883) was found between DASH and HAQ (r = 0.883). The SF-36 scores were correlated with DASH (r = -0.785 with physical component, r = -0.619 with mental component). DASH scores correlate with disease activity indices, functional disability and QoL and can be used in the assessment of upper extremities in patients with RA.