Session Information
Date: Sunday, November 13, 2016
Title: Rheumatoid Arthritis – Clinical Aspects I: Pre-RA and Progression to Rheumatoid Arthritis
Session Type: ACR Concurrent Abstract Session
Session Time: 4:30PM-6:00PM
Background/Purpose: To assess the association between recent stressful life events and rheumatoid arthritis (RA) onset.
Methods: We conducted a monocentric case-control study of in and out patients. Cases were RA patients fulfilling ACR EULAR criteria and controls were osteoarthritis (OA) patients. With face-to-face interviews, we assessed stressful life events occurring during the year before rheumatoid arthritis onset according to the Social Readjustment Rating Scale (SRRS), which provided a life change unit (LCU) score representing the level of stress experienced. Patients were classified in 3 subgroups by life change unit score: 0-40, 41-100 and 101-300.
Results: Overall, 69 RA and 65 OA patients were included (71% were women). Cases and controls did not differ in characteristics except age, with younger age for RA than OA patients. RA onset within a year was increased with SRRS ≥100 (OR=15.31 [95% CI 6.00-39.09], p<0.0001) and 41 to 100 (OR=4.99 [1.87-13.32], p=0.001) as compared with 0-40. High LCU score remained associated with RA onset within a year on multivariable analysis adjusted for age, sex, disease duration and current depression: > 100 (OR=16.05 [5.44-47.32], p<0.001) and 41–100 (OR=5.46 [1.82-16.37], p=0.002).
Conclusion: We found a strong association between stressful life events and RA onset within a year. The more the patient experienced stress, the greater was the risk of RA developing. Clinicians should look for stressful life events in the history-taking of patients with early arthritis.
To cite this abstract in AMA style:
Gross J, Oubaya N, Eymard F, Hourdille A, Chevalier X, Guignard S. Stressful Life Events : A Trigger for Rheumatoid Arthritis Onset within a Year. a Case-Control Study [abstract]. Arthritis Rheumatol. 2016; 68 (suppl 10). https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/stressful-life-events-a-trigger-for-rheumatoid-arthritis-onset-within-a-year-a-case-control-study/. Accessed .« Back to 2016 ACR/ARHP Annual Meeting
ACR Meeting Abstracts - https://acrabstracts.org/abstract/stressful-life-events-a-trigger-for-rheumatoid-arthritis-onset-within-a-year-a-case-control-study/