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Work disability is related to the presence of arthritis and not to a specific diagnosis. Results from a large early arthritis cohort in Argentina

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Abstract

The objective of the study was to evaluate work disability and its main associated factors in patients with early arthritis. Argentine Consortium for Early Arthritis (CONAART) is the first early arthritis cohort in Argentina. Patients with one or more swollen joints and less than 2 years of symptoms duration were followed up prospectively in 13 departments of rheumatology. Social, demographic, familiar, clinical, and laboratory data were recollected. At first year and every year, X-rays of hands and feet were performed and working status and pharmaco-economic data were recollected. Work status (employed, unemployed, retired) and type of work were assessed by direct interview using a predesigned questionnaire. Eight hundred forty-eight patients were included, rheumatoid arthritis (RA) = 483 (57 %)and undifferentiated arthritis (UA) = 365 (43 %), 694 (81.8 %) were women, median age was 46 years (interquartile range (IQR) 35–55.7) and median symptoms duration 7 months (IQR 3–12). Patients with RA had significantly higher disease activity, worse functional capacity and quality of life, and more severe radiological damage compared to UA patients. However work disability (unemployed patient) was comparable between groups (RA = 21 % versus UA = 18.6 % p = NS). In both groups, unemployed patients had higher disease activity score of 28 joints (DAS28), worse Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) values, and less years of formal education (p value <0.005 in all comparisons). Radiological damage was greater in unemployed patients but this difference did not reach statistical significance. In multivariate analysis, disease activity was the main variable associated with unemployment in both groups. Joint involvement was the main cause of work disability in this cohort of patients with early arthritis, independently of the final diagnosis.

Key messages

1. Work disability is higher in patients with inflammatory arthritis as compared to the general population.

2. Prevalence of work disability is comparable among patients with undifferentiated and rheumatoid arthritis.

3. Disease activity is the main disease variable associated with work disability.

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Conflict of interest

CONAART is supported by an unrestricted grant from Pfizer.

Pfizer has not had any role in study design or in the writing of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Section of Rheumatology, Instituto de Rehabilitación Psicofísica, Echeverria 955, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Gustavo Citera, Hernan Maldonado Ficco, Rodolfo S. Pérez Alamino, Fernando Dal Pra & Veronica Lencina

  2. Section of Rheumatology, Hospital Tornú, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Luciana Casalla, Mariana Benegas & Oscar Rillo

  3. Section of Rheumatology, Centro Médico Privado de Reumatología, San Miguel de Tucumán, Tucumán, Argentina

    Alberto Berman, Ana Lucia Barbaglia & Veronica Bellomío

  4. Section of Rheumatology, Hospital Privado, Córdoba, Argentina

    Maria Haye Salinas, Ana C. Alvarez & Francisco Caeiro

  5. Section of Rheumatology, Hospital San Martín, La Plata, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Josefina Marcos & Adrian Salas

  6. Section of Rheumatology, Hospital Rivadavia, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Antonio Catalán Pellet, Lorena Techera & Anastasia Secco

  7. Section of Rheumatology, Hospital Cullen, Santa Fé, Argentina

    Sergio Paira & Federico Ceccato

  8. Section of Rheumatology, Hospital Italiano, Buenos Aires, Argentina

    Zaida Bedrán, Enrique R. Soriano & Josefina Marin

  9. Section of Rheumatology, Centro de Reumatologia, Santiago del Estero, Argentina

    Gabriela Salvatierra

  10. Section of Rheumatology, Hospital Señor del Milagro, Salta, Argentina

    Maria Elena Crespo

Authors
  1. Gustavo Citera
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  2. Hernan Maldonado Ficco
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  3. Rodolfo S. Pérez Alamino
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  4. Fernando Dal Pra
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  5. Veronica Lencina
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  6. Luciana Casalla
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  7. Mariana Benegas
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  8. Oscar Rillo
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  9. Alberto Berman
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  10. Ana Lucia Barbaglia
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  11. Veronica Bellomío
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  12. Maria Haye Salinas
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  13. Ana C. Alvarez
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  14. Francisco Caeiro
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  15. Josefina Marcos
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  16. Adrian Salas
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  17. Antonio Catalán Pellet
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  18. Lorena Techera
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  19. Anastasia Secco
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  20. Sergio Paira
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  21. Federico Ceccato
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  22. Zaida Bedrán
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  23. Enrique R. Soriano
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  24. Josefina Marin
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  25. Gabriela Salvatierra
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  26. Maria Elena Crespo
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Gustavo Citera.

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Citera, G., Ficco, H.M., Alamino, R.S.P. et al. Work disability is related to the presence of arthritis and not to a specific diagnosis. Results from a large early arthritis cohort in Argentina. Clin Rheumatol 34, 929–933 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-014-2832-7

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-014-2832-7

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