PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - George E Fragoulis
AU  - Jonathan Cavanagh
AU  - Alistair Tindell
AU  - Mohammad Derakhshan
AU  - Caron Paterson
AU  - Duncan Porter
AU  - Iain B McInnes
AU  - Stefan Siebert
TI  - Depression and anxiety in an early rheumatoid arthritis inception cohort. associations with demographic, socioeconomic and disease features
AID  - 10.1136/rmdopen-2020-001376
DP  - 2020 Oct 01
TA  - RMD Open
PG  - e001376
VI  - 6
IP  - 3
4099  - http://rmdopen.bmj.com/content/6/3/e001376.short
4100  - http://rmdopen.bmj.com/content/6/3/e001376.full
SO  - RMD Open2020 Oct 01; 6
AB  - Objective Depression and anxiety are not uncommon in Rheumatoid arthritis (RA). It is increasingly recognised that they are associated with high disease activity and worse disease outcomes. We aimed to examine the frequency of depression and anxiety in an early RA inception cohort and to explore associations with disease-related measures.Methods The Scottish Early Rheumatoid Arthritis inception cohort recruited newly diagnosed RA patients followed-up 6-monthly. Anxiety and depression were assessed using the hospital anxiety and depression scale. Associations with demographic characteristics and disease-related measures were examined at baseline, 6 months and 12 months.Results 848 RA patients were included. The prevalence of anxiety and depression at baseline was 19.0% and 12.2%, respectively. Depression and anxiety scores correlated with DAS28 at all time-points (all p<0.0001). In multivariable linear regression, anxiety score at baseline was associated with younger age and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) score. Anxiety scores at 6 months and 12 months were associated with low body mass index (BMI), baseline anxiety score and current patient global score and HAQ. Depression score at baseline was associated with younger age, being single and HAQ, while depression scores at 6 months and 12 months were associated with male gender (only at 6 months), baseline anxiety and depression scores and current patient global score, HAQ and C-reactive protein (CRP) levels.Conclusion Depression and anxiety are associated with disease activity, worse functional status and other variables in early RA. There is a close relationship between CRP and depression but not anxiety.