ANEMIA VERSUS DISEASE ACTIVITY AS CAUSE OF FATIGUE IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS

Background: Fatigue is a common complaint in rheumatoid arthritis patients and contributes to loss of quality of life. Objective: To study the influence of hemoglobin levels and disease activity index upon fatigue in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods: We studied 130 RA patients for DAS 28, hemoglobin levels and fatigue as measured by FACIT F. Results: No association between fatigue with hemoglobin levels was observed. A positive association with DAS-28 was found. Decomposing DAS-28, no association could be detected with sedimentation rate but a positive correlation with analogical scale for general health, number of swollen and painful joints was found. Conclusion: Although a positive association of fatigue with DAS-28 is found it appears that the most important items in connection with fatigue are swollen and tender joints as well as general health status. Hemoglobin levels were not related to fatigue in our patients.