[Do patients with rheumatoid arthritis suppress anger and aggression?]

Given the contradictory findings on aggression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), this topic was examined again in two studies. In both studies RA patients and patients with arthrosis were compared (in-patients in study I, n = 28 in each sample; out-patients in study II, each sample comprising 22 subjects). Two aggression/anger inventories (Fragebogen zur Erfassung von Aggressivitätsfaktoren = FAF and State-Trait-Anger-Expression Inventory = STAXI) with a total of 10 scales were used for comparison. Samples were matched for gender and age; duration and severity of illness were used as covariates. No replicable differences between groups were found in any variable. Our results do not support aggression theories of rheumatoid arthritis.