BACKGROUND: Arthritis is the most common cause of disability among US adults. Few studies have comprehensively examined factors associated with disability in this population.OBJECTIVE: To investigate the relationship between a number of disease and non-disease related factors and disability in sample of adults with self-reported doctor-diagnosed arthritis.METHODS: Participants (n = 396) taking part in a randomized controlled trial of arthritis self-management completed a comprehensive survey assessing a number of demographic, arthritis-specific, health-related, behavioral, and psychological variables at baseline. Disability, as measured by the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), was also measured. Hierarchical regression models examined the independent associations between blocks of variables and disability.RESULTS: Demographic variables (R(2) = 0.13), arthritis-specific demographics (i.e., type, medication use; ÄR(2) = 0.16), physical health-related variables (ÄR(2) = 0.06), arthritis-specific symptoms (ÄR(2) = 0.12), health behaviors (ÄR(2) = 0.00), and psychological variables (ÄR(2) = 0.03) explained 50% of the variance in disability score (R(2) = 0.50). With the exception of health behaviors, the addition of each block of variables significantly improved the model, explaining additional variance in HAQ scores (p < 0.0001). In the final model, older age, less than a high school education, rheumatoid arthritis, greater arthritis duration, taking steroids, taking narcotics, greater pain, greater stiffness, greater depressive symptoms, and lower arthritis self-efficacy were associated with greater disability whereas male gender, fibromyalgia, and excellent/very good health were associated with less disability.CONCLUSIONS: A number of disease and non-disease related variables were associated with disability. These findings suggest that disability in adults with arthritis may be a complicated phenomenon; such complexity may make decreasing disability in this population challenging.
Age Factors Aged