Pain Severity and Neuropathic Pain Symptoms in Primary Sjogren’s Syndrome: A Comparison Study of Seropositive and Seronegative Sjogren’s Syndrome.

Pain Severity and Neuropathic Pain symptoms in primary Sjogren’s syndrome: A comparison study of seropositive and seronegative Sjogren’s syndrome.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2013 Jan 17;
Segal BM, Pogatchnik B, Henn L, Rudser K, Sivils KM

OBJECTIVES: To compare clinical characteristics and patient-reported outcomes in seropositive versus seronegative primary Sjogren’s syndrome patients (pSS) and to investigate the effect of serological status on the prevalence of chronic pain, comorbidity and health quality. METHODS: Pain severity and neuropathic pain symptoms, comorbidity and health status were assessed in 108 pSS patients. Differences between patient groups were assessed by t-test and chi-square tests and adjusted pain-affect associations. The effect of predictor variables on pain severity was examined with multivariate regression. RESULTS: Pain severity was greater (p=.003) and physical function (p=.023) reduced in the seronegative patients. Prevalence of neuropathic pain, depression, anxiety and disability were similar between groups. Chronic pain, defined as daily pain for greater than 3 months, was reported by 65% of seropositive (N=65) and 75% of seronegative patients (N=40). After adjustment for age, sleep quality and psychological distress, the difference in pain severity between seropositive and seronegative patients remained significant. CONCLUSION: Chronic pain is pervasive in both seropositive and seronegative pSS patients, while pain severity and functional impairment is greater in seronegative patients. Neuropathic pain is equally prevalent and is the predominant pain phenotype in patients with moderate to severe pain. Accurate assessment of pain phenotypes is needed for more effective management of chronic pain in pSS. The focus of future research should be to standardize assessment of pain and to identify the factors contributing to more severe pain in seronegative patients.
HubMed – depression

Long term physical functioning and its association with somatic comorbidity and comorbid depression in patients with established rheumatoid arthritis: A longitudinal study.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2013 Jan 17;
van den Hoek J, Roorda LD, Boshuizen HC, van Hees J, Rupp I, Tijhuis GJ, Dekker J, van den Bos GA

OBJECTIVE.: To describe the long-term physical functioning and its association with somatic comorbidity and comorbid depression in patients with established rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS.: Longitudinal data over a period of eleven years were collected from 882 patients with RA at study inclusion. Patient-reported outcomes were collected in 1997, 1998, 1999, 2002 and 2008. Physical functioning was measured with the Health Assessment Questionnaire and the Physical Component Scale of the Short Form-36 Health Survey. Somatic comorbidity was measured by a questionnaire including 13 chronic diseases. Comorbid depression was measured with the Center for Epidemiologic Depression Scale. We distinguished four groups of patients based on comorbidity at baseline. RESULTS.: 78% of the patients at baseline were women. The mean age was 59.3 (SD 14.8) years and the median disease duration was 5.0 (IQR 2.0-14.0) years. For the total group of patients with RA physical functioning improved over time. Patients with somatic comorbidity, comorbid depression or both, demonstrated worse physical functioning than patients without comorbidity, at all data collection points. Both groups with comorbid depression had the lowest scores. Only patients with both somatic comorbidity and comorbid depression showed significantly less improvement in physical functioning over time. CONCLUSION.: Both somatic comorbidity and comorbid depression were negatively associated with physical functioning during an eleven-year follow-up period. Furthermore, their combination seems to be especially detrimental to physical functioning over time. These results emphasize the need to take somatic comorbidity and comorbid depression into account in the screening and treatment of patients with RA. © 2013 by the American College of Rheumatology.
HubMed – depression

Fatigue and factors related to fatigue in rheumatoid arthritis: A systematic review.

Filed under: Depression Treatment

Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2013 Jan 17;
Nikolaus S, Bode C, Taal E, van de Laar MA

OBJECTIVE: While patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) experience fatigue, little is known about its causes and consequences, and a fully developed theoretical model explaining the experience of fatigue in RA is lacking. Our goal was to systematically review studies in RA that examined factors related to fatigue to gain more insight into its possible causes and consequences. METHODS: MEDLINE, Web of Science, SCOPUS and PsychInfo were searched for relevant studies. All studies with RA samples about the relation between fatigue and other variables, that defined dependent and independent variables, and used multivariate statistical methods were preliminarily included. After reviewing 129 full-texts, we identified twenty-five studies on possible causes of fatigue and seventeen studies on possible consequences of fatigue. RESULTS: Studies found possible causes of fatigue in illness-related aspects, physical functioning, cognitive/emotional functioning and social aspects. Additionally, being female was related to higher levels of fatigue. Inflammatory activity showed an unclear relationship with fatigue in RA. Possible consequences of fatigue were also found among illness-related aspects, physical functioning, cognitive/emotional functioning and social aspects. Strongest evidence for a relationship between fatigue and other variables was found regarding pain, physical functioning and depression. CONCLUSION: This review summarizes the current knowledge in the field in order to inform future research on causes and consequences of fatigue in RA. However, the results are based on cross-sectional and longitudinal studies with different designs and different fatigue scales. For a better identification of causal associations between fatigue in RA and related factors, longitudinal prospective designs with adequate fatigue measurements are suggested. © 2013 by the American College of Rheumatology.
HubMed – depression

HappyLight Compact Energy Lamp
Improve your mood, energy and concentration naturally with the Happy Light 2500 Energy Lamp from Verilux. As many as 1 in 7 Americ…

Depression: Breaking Free from Its Grip
Depression: Breaking Free from Its Grip Depression can be described as a strong grip on people’s lives that keep them bound to fee…

How to Break the Grip of Depression: Read How Robert Declared War On Depression … And Beat It!
Depression is not an antidepressant deficiency! Depression is the most common mood disorder in the world and in all likelihood one…

More Depression Treatment Information…