Upper limb functional disability in early rheumatoid arthritis
Adams, J., Hammond, A., Burridge, J. and Cooper, C. (2004) Upper limb functional disability in early rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatology, 43, (Supplement 2), ii 152.
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Description/Abstract
Background: in the early 1990’s, Eberhardt et al acknowledged that hand
function is affected early on in RA. With the changes in drug treatments
more recent studies have however, provided limited insight into upper limb
functional ability as predominantly generalised health outcome measures
such as the Arthritis Impact Measurement Scale and the Health Assessment
Questionnaire have been employed. Although both of these questionnaires
have small sub-sections for upper limb function these are not seen as separate
sub-analyses in published research. This study aimed to contribute
towards the current understanding of how upper limb function is affected in
early RA.
Methods: 120 patients from eight hospital clinics with a diagnosis (or suspected
diagnosis) of rheumatoid arthritis with disease duration of less than 5
years were recruited as part of a larger trial on static resting splints. All particpants
had some hand involvement and were considered suitable for hand
splinting at time of referral to out patient occupational therapy departments.
The self-report Disability of the Arm, Shoulder and Hand (DASH) questionnaire(
Hudak et al 1996) was used to score and analyse upper limb disability.
Results: 110 patients (92%) returned completed questionnaires with sufficient
information to permit scoring. The group characteristics are presented
in the table below.
The responses of the DASH questionnaire were scored and analysed. The
use of force was a consistent factor in severely limiting individuals abilities;
61% were unable or had severe difficulty in opening jars, 53% had severe
difficulties or were unable to take part in recreational activities that required
some force or impact through the arm and 41% were unable or had severe
difficulties in carrying a heavy object over 10lbs. Participants most frequently
reported mild or moderate difficulty for dexterity tasks; 70% reporting
mild/moderate difficulty in writing, 66% struggling to turn a key and 58%
having mild to moderate difficulty in preparing a meal. The daily tasks that
caused the least or no difficulties were; managing transport needs 45%, sexual
activities 38% and washing hair 37%.
Conclusions: upper limb ability is affected early on in RA, tasks that require
strength and static grip force appear to cause the most problems for
this sample and combined dexterity tasks that require precision but not necessarily
force seem to cause the least amount of difficulty
| Item Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Additional Information: | Poster presented at British Health Professionals Spring Meeting, Edinburgh, Scotland, 21-23 Apr 2004 |
| ISSN: | 1462-0324 (print) |
| Uncontrolled Keywords: | disability, disabilities, rheumatoid, rheumatoid arthritis, arthritis |
| Related URLs: | http://rheumatology.oxfordjour.../index.dtl http://rheumatology.oxfordjour...pl_2/ii147 |
| Subjects: | R Medicine |
| Divisions: | University Structure - Pre August 2011 > Superseded (SOHPRS) |
| ePrint ID: | 17779 |
| URI: | http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/17779 |
| Deposited On: | 16 Aug 2007 |
| Last Modified: | 02 Mar 2012 12:03 |
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