Is arthritis associated with suicidal ideation and quality of life?

ABSTRACT

Arthritis is not only a chronic disease but also causes physical inactivity. We investigated the association between arthritis and quality of life and psychological problems, as measured by suicidal ideation. We used data from the 2013 Community Health Survey, and 162,598 persons aged 40 years and older were included as study subjects. Our main focus was to investigate association of arthritis with suicidal ideation and quality of life. Multivariate survey logistic regression analysis was used to estimate the odds ratio for suicidal ideation, and multivariate survey linear regression analysis used to identify associations between variables and scores on the EuroQol Visual Analogue Scale(EQ-VAS). 8.30% of male and 13.90% of female experienced suicidal ideation, and 16.17% of and 21.23% of female suffered from arthritis. Individuals with arthritis were more likely to report suicidal ideation and have lower health-related quality of life (HRQOL) scores. Furthermore, higher rates of suicidal ideation and lower HRQOLs were also associated with older age, low income and less education. Arthritis was associated with higher rates of suicidal ideation and lower HRQOL scores. These results should contribute to the development and implementation of polices and management strategies to alleviate suicidal ideation and increase HRQOL scores among arthritis patients.

KEYWORDS:

• Suicidal ideation
• quality of life
• arthritis

Acknowledgments

The English in this document has been checked by at least two professional editors, both native speakers of English. For a certificate, please see: http://www.textcheck.com/certificate/io5T9B

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Author contributions

JHP, DJK and SJK spearheaded the design and conception of the study, performed the data analysis, and wrote the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript. SJK is the guarantor of this work and, as such, had full access to all data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Soonchunhyang University Research Fund.