Quality of life of women with rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a long-term, fluctuating, inflammatory and systemic disease of unknown etiology. In recent years, there has been an increasing interest in incorporating the concept of quality of life (QOL) in the evaluation of clinical and medical interventions. The World Health Organization (WHO) defines QOL as ‘abroad ranging concept incorporating in a complex way the person’s physical health, psychological state, level of independence, social relationships, person’s beliefs and their relationship to salient features of the environment (Brenol, et al., 2017). Quality of life is different from health status because when rating QOL patients often place greater emphasis on mental health than physical functioning, and when measuring health status, it is the reverse. Quality of life can be divided into global, health related and disease-specific QOL. Management of health care services, when designing and managing health care for a population, it is necessary to manage resources effectively in order to maintain and promote the health of the population (Cima, et al., 2018). So, the current study aimed to assess quality of life of women with rheumatoid arthritis through: assessing knowledge of women about rheumatoid arthritis, and assessing physical ability, psychological, emotional, occupational function of women with rheumatoid arthritis.