The burden of depression in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

An ever‐increasing body of research confirms that rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with depression. Conservative estimates using research interviews, the gold standard of psychiatric assessment, place the prevalence of depression in this patient group in the region of 13–20% depending on the sociodemographic and disease characteristics of the population studied (proportion of females, severity and chronicity of illness etc.) [1, 2]. Thus, RA patients are twice as likely to suffer from depression as members of the general population. In RA patients, depression not only contributes its own additional burden but also interacts with the way patients perceive and cope with their physical illness and how they interact with their rheumatologist and general practitioner. Thus, depression increases the burden of RA to the patient and society.