Self-rated physical and psychosocial health in a cohort of young adults with juvenile idiopathic arthritis

Abstract

Objective: To explore self-rated physical and psychosocial health in a cohort of young adults with juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) 18.3 years after symptom onset, make comparisons with population-based data, and illuminate possible predictors of self-rated health.

Methods: Of a baseline cohort of 84 patients with JIA, 55 (65.5%) answered the self-administered questionnaires of the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) of pain, fatigue, and illness, the Medical Outcomes Study 36-item Short Form Health Survey (SF-36), and the General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-30). Telephone interviews were conducted with 51/55 patients. Population-based norm-data of SF-36 were used for comparison.

Results: Significantly impaired physical health but no difference in psychosocial health was found as compared to the general Norwegian population. The level of education was significantly higher whereas no difference was found in employment status as compared to norm-data. Pain was a significant correlate of the education level. Predictors of physical impairment were physical disability and pain, whereas psychiatric distress and female sex were predictors of mental ill-health.

Conclusion: Physical disability does not seem to have a negative influence on the patients' functioning psychosocially.

Acknowledgements

We are particularly grateful to the informants who so willingly responded to our inquiry. We also thank the statistician Jari Appelgren for his consultations regarding statistical questions. Finally, we thank Professor emeritus Inger Helene Vandvik for her great interest in the progression of the second follow-up study.