Quality of life of patients with rheumatoid arthritis under biological therapy

assessing health-related quality of life (HRQL) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), before and after treatment with biological therapy.

a longitudinal study, conducted from November 2010 to September 2011, with implementation of the instruments HAQ II (health assessment questionnaire) and SF-36 (medical outcomes short-from health survey). Barlett test, Anova, Friedman and paired t-test were performed for multiple extracts.

30 patients were evaluated, mean age of 47.6 (SD: 12.25) years and prevalence of females (90%). The mean score of HAQ II before treatment was 1.97, with significant reduction of up to 1.23 after six months of biological therapy (p<0.01). Most of the SF-36 domains showed significant improvement after six months of treatment (p<0.01), highlighting the social aspects, pain, physical functioning, emotional issues, vitality and physical aspects.

the use of biologic therapy in patients with RA refractory to standard therapies proved to be an important pharmacological strategy for improving HRQL.