LIFE QUALITY OF PATIENTS WITH RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS ACCORDING TO THE LEVEL OF PAIN

Abstract

This is a transversal (cross-sectional) descriptive study. The aim of the study is to evaluate the quality of life of patients with rheumatoid arthritis Objectives: To identify the level of pain related to daily activities in patients with RA according to gender and age groups. Methodology: The data collection was conducted in January-May 2019. The sample was randomly selected. In this study, there were 70 patients with RA. These patients were provided an internationally standardized questionnaire, administered by us that measures the level of pain experienced by the patient in carrying out daily activities. Questionnaires with patients were conducted at QSUT "Mother Theresa". Before the interview began, patient and family consensus were obtained. To analyze the statistical data, SPSS Version19 and Excel 2010 were used. The Pearson Correlation for IC=99%, p<0.01 was applied. Results: The average age of patients is 55.2 years old, the minimum age is 24 years old, the maximum age is 72 years old. In a distribution by age groups, it turns out that 59% of these patients are aged 50-59 years old. From this study it is seen that the highest percentage of patients with RA is Tirana (45%). We found that women are not only more affected than men by rheumatoid arthritis, specifically 84% of women, but also women have much worse quality of life due to very severe pain from RA. Of our surveyed group, 20.3% of affected females have very poor quality of life but no affected males have very poor quality of life from AR pain. Men in 100% of cases have poor quality of life from RA pain compared to 72.9% of women. The age group experiencing the most severe pain and having a very bad quality of life is 20-49 year olds with 25% of the cases. The age group ≥70 years old has the worst quality of life from AR pain in 100% of the cases studied. Conclusions: 77% of these patients have poor quality of life because of pain associated with RA. The FSI for pain resulted in 0.25, 0.39 for addiction and 0.26 for difficulty.