Borderline psychic disorders in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (according to the data of the questionnaire of K.K. Yakhin and D.M. Mendelevich)

Abstract

Objective: to study the prevalence of borderline psychic disorders (BPD) in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with different clinical manifestations. Subjects and methods. The study enrolled 192 patients having a valid diagnosis of RA. All the patients underwent clinical, laboratory, and X-ray studies; the questionnaire for the assessment and detection of neurotic states (K.K. Yakhin and D.M. Mendelevich, 1978) and the Health Assessment Questionnaire were filled out. Results. BPDs were identified in 123 (64.1%) patients. BPDs were more often diagnosed in patients with seropositive RA (p<0.05). The incidence of BPD tended to rise with an increase in the activity of RA, radiographic stage, pain intensity according to the visual analogue scale, in the duration of morning stiffness and the number of tender joints (p>0.05). The detection rate for BPD did not depend on the systemic manifestations of RA, number of swollen joints, laboratory parameters of RA activity. The frequency of BPD increased with worsening function (p<0.05) and with the longer duration of the articular syndrome (p<0.05). Conclusion. An examination of patients with RA showed the high frequency of BPD (64.1%), the presence of which correlated with joint dysfunction and the duration of the articular syndrome.

Keywords

• rheumatoid arthritis
• clinical characteristics of ra
• borderline psychic disorders
• functional status