If you or someone you know suffers from a condition called rheumatoid arthritis, you will know that daily wellness can be a big challenge. The stress of chronic pain, caused by inflammation and swelling in the joints, can cause a lot of unwanted side effects, and one of them is depression. In fact, people who have rheumatoid arthritis, have a much higher than normal risk of getting depression, and this in turn increases their risk of death.
These are the findings from a new study, where researchers spoke to 530 patients around the age of 60. Carried out in northern California, the study followed these participants over the course of about 19 years. They were given an assessment which looked for symptoms of depression at the start of the study and then at various times during the course of the research, to track their wellbeing. During the course of the study, 63 of the patients who were involved sadly died.
Results of the study showed that patients who had rheumatoid arthritis at the same time as depression were twice as likely to die as those who simply had rheumatoid arthritis without depressive symptoms. It also showed that men were far more at risk, with the death rate being twice as high amongst men as it was amongst women. Interestingly, depressive symptoms were a risk factor just as much as those with full-blown diagnosed depression.
Further research is now needed into the health concerns raised by this study. Patients must also be made aware of the link between the two conditions and actively seek out treatment. It’s also important to note that whilst the two conditions appear to be linked, it is not proved that one actually causes the other.
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