Rheumatoid arthritis and risk of anxiety: a meta-analysis of cohort studies

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) may increase the risk of anxiety, but results from prior studies have no consensus. Our study aimed to evaluate the relationship between RA and incident anxiety by using a quantitative meta-analysis.

A number of databases were used to gather relevant information; they included PubMed, EMBASE, and Web of Science, with the publication date of articles limited up to July 23, 2018. To evaluate their association, an odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (CI) was used. The random-effects model played a crucial role in calculating the pooled odds ratio, while subgroup analyses and sensitivity analyses were also performed.

A total of 10 studies, including 6201 cases of anxiety and 139,875 participants, met our inclusion criteria for this meta-analysis. All individuals were without anxiety at baseline. The follow-up period ranged from 1.0 to 9.2 years. Overall, the quantitative meta-analysis suggested that subjects with RA were associated with a significantly increased risk of anxiety incidence (OR, 1.20; 95% CI, 1.03-1.39) than those without.

Results of this meta-analysis indicate that individuals with RA may confer an increased risk for the development of anxiety. Future studies should explore whether clinical manifestations of RA are modifiable risk factors for anxiety.