Author(s)

Tamborenea Maria Natalia, Silvia Moyano Caturelli, Jackeline Spengler, Grisel Olivera Roulet

Servicio Nacional de Rehabilitación (SNR), Ciudad Autónoma de Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Objective: 1) To analyze the prevalence of Work Disability (WD) in RA Argentinian patients who are attending at the National Rehabilitation Service (NRS); 2) To measure general, socioeconomics and disease characteristics in this population; 3) To characterize the associated factors of work disability in this group. Methods: Design: cross section observational study. RA patients attending the NRS were included in consecutive form. Clinical, demographic and ra-diological data were collected. All patients answered about their employment status. WD was defined if the work status was unemployed due to RA, retirement prior to the normal age, or disabled pension. Comparing analysis among pa-tients with and without paid work was done. Housewives, retired patients and students were excluded from the compar-ing analysis. Results: Three hundred and eleven patients were included (n = 311). The prevalence of WD was 44.05% (n = 137). During the study eighty 5 (27.3%) patients were in paid employment, 48 (15.3%) were retired, 39 (12.5%) were housewives, and 2 (0.6%) patients were students. Factor associated to WD were female sex, more than 5 years of disease duration, have health insurance, education beyond high school, and greater functional limitation : HAQ > 1 and function class 3 - 4. In the multivariable logistic regression model female sex was a significant and independent predictor of WD. Have health insurance; and more than high school education were protector factors of WD in this model. Conclusion: WD prevalence in this sample was higher than other countries. Socioeconomics factors more than diseases factors were significant predictors of productivity loss in this sample.

HAQ; Work Disability; Rheumatoid Arthritis

T. Natalia, S. Caturelli, J. Spengler and G. Roulet, "Disability Work among Argentinean Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis," Open Journal of Rheumatology and Autoimmune Diseases, Vol. 2 No. 3, 2012, pp. 73-76. doi: 10.4236/ojra.2012.23014.