فهرست نشریات علمی دسترسی آزاد ایران

Background: Increased prevalence of depression among patients with Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has been described previously. However, the impact of depression among Iranian patients has not yet been investigated. Objectives: Here, the prevalence of depression was assessed and the effect of disease-related characteristics including pain, weakness and rheumatoid factor (RF) status on incidence of depression was evaluated. Results: One hundred and seventy-one patients with RA and 198 healthy individuals participated in this investigation. In the RA group, depressive mood was detected in 45.7% of patients, which was significantly higher than healthy subjects (P = 0.008). Depression was more common in elderly patients (> 50 years old) in comparison with healthy subjects at a similar age (P = 0.03). Pain and weakness had no influence on depression incidence (P = 0.14 and 0.19, respectively) whereas patients with negative RF status were significantly more susceptible to severe depression (P: 0.001). Conclusions: Depression is more common among Iranian patients with RA (45%) than healthy subjects regardless of gender. Depression has a significant association with older age. Negative RF status may predict future risk of depression.