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The relation between stress and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis

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Abstract

This study investigated the relation between stress and current disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). During a routine clinic appointment, subjects were given ratings of global disease status by their physicians and completed self-report measures of major stress and minor stress. In addition, each subject's erythrocyte sedimentation rate was taken. After controlling for disease severity and major stress, minor stress accounted for a significant amount of the variance in inflammation level. These results suggest that minor stress is associated with current disease activity in RA.

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Thomason, B.T., Brantley, P.J., Jones, G.N. et al. The relation between stress and disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis. J Behav Med 15, 215–220 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00848326

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