Psychological Morbidity, Fatigue and Burden of Disease in Patients With Connective Tissue Diseases

Abstract

Objective: Depression and anxiety disorders are significant health problems that can coexist with other diseases and exert adverse effects on these diseases’ course and treatment response. Fatigue is a common and disabling symptom in chronic inflammatory diseases. The present study aimed to evaluate the fatigue, anxiety, depression and burden of disease (eg, disease activity, function, quality of life) in autoimmune connective tissue disease (CTD) patients.
 Methods: 160 patients diagnosed with CTD and 50 healthy control patients were included in the present study. Disease activity scores were recorded. All patients were asked to fill the Short Form-36, Fatigue Severity Scale, Hospital Depression and Anxiety Scale (HADS).
 Results: In all patients groups, anxiety, depression, and fatigue scores were significantly higher, and quality of life scores significantly lower than those of healthy controls. A significant positive correlation was found between rheumatoid arthritis activity, HADS anxiety and depression scores. It was also established that in scleroderma patients with diffuse skin involvement and pulmonary involvement, depression and anxiety scores were high.
 Conclusion: It is clear that psychiatric comorbidity and fatigue may be present in CTD and adversely affects quality of life. It is important to assess them and they should be an important treatment target.