Index of body mass and quality of life of patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic systemic inflammatory disease that primarily affects synovial tissues. Obesity has been implicated as a risk factor for the development of RA and is associated with a decrease in the quality of life, and this relationship is interesting in this research. Objective: To correlate the anthropometric diagnosis according to the body mass index (BMI) with the quality of life through the HAQ functional disability scale (IDFHAQ) of patients with rheumatoid arthritis. Methodology: Analytical, correlational, prospective, cross-sectional, field type research. Sample: Represented by 97 patients, adults with Rheumatoid Arthritis who attended the Rheumatology clinic and met the inclusion criteria for carrying out the research work. Results: The anthropometric diagnosis according to BMI showed that 61.93% obtained an abnormal BMI. Regarding the quality of life through IDFHAQ, 64.96% had some type of inability to carry out their daily activities, of which 20.58% were severely affected. The anthropometric diagnosis according to BMI is significantly related to the quality of life through the IDFHAQ, since the value of Chi2 26.916 corresponding to the crossing of these variables produced a significance of .008 (p<0.05) which indicates that there is a dependent relationship between the variables under study. Conclusion: The correlation between higher body mass index was demonstrated, the greater the deterioration of the quality of life of the patient with Rheumatoid Arthritis.