Radiographic Damage in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis is Associated with Increased Disability but Not with Pain-a 5-year Follow-up Study

Overview

Journal Arthritis Res Ther

Publisher Biomed Central

Specialty Rheumatology

Date 2023 Feb 28

PMID 36849881

Authors

Anna Eberhard

Emil Rydell

Kristina Forslind

Stefan Bergman

Thomas Mandl

Tor Olofsson

Lennart T H Jacobsson

Carl Turesson

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate how radiographic damage, overall and measured as joint space narrowing score (JSNS) and erosion score (ES), as well as other clinical and laboratory measures, relate to disability and pain in early rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: An inception cohort of 233 patients with early RA, recruited in 1995-2005, was followed for 5 years. Disability was assessed with the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), and pain with a visual analogue scale (VAS; 0-100 mm). Radiographs of hands and feet were evaluated using the Sharp-van der Heijde score (SHS), including JSNS and ES. The relation for radiographic scores and other clinical parameters with pain and HAQ were evaluated cross-sectionally by multivariate linear regression analysis and over time using generalized estimating equations.

Results: ES was significantly associated with HAQ cross-sectionally at inclusion, after 2 and after 5 years, and over time. Associations for HAQ with SHS and JSNS were weaker and less consistent compared with those for ES. There was no association between radiographic scores and pain at any visit. Both HAQ and pain were associated with parameters of disease activity. The strongest cross-sectional associations were found for the number of tender joints (adjusted p<0.001 at all visits).

Conclusion: Joint damage was associated with disability already in early RA. Erosions of hands and feet appear to have a greater influence on disability compared with joint space narrowing early in the disease. Pain was associated with other factors than joint destruction in early RA, in particular joint tenderness-suggesting an impact of pain sensitization.

Citing Articles

Predicting Rheumatoid Arthritis Development Using Hand Ultrasound and Machine Learning-A Two-Year Follow-Up Cohort Study.

Daskareh M, Vakilpour A, Barzegar-Golmoghani E, Esmaeilian S, Gilanchi S, Ezzati F Diagnostics (Basel). 2024; 14(11).

PMID: 38893708 PMC: 11171890. DOI: 10.3390/diagnostics14111181.

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