Can Inflammatory Arthritis Be 'Worse Than Death'?

Patients with inflammatory arthritis completing a health-related quality of life questionnaire report levels of pain that result in their health being rated as 'worse than death' by members of the general population.
Researchers at the Arthritis Research Campaign Epidemiology Unit at the University of Manchester sought to identify why the health-related quality of life of a significant number of arthritis patients is rated so poorly, and to further investigate the health status of these patients.

Arthritis patients report a range of limitations which impair their quality of life including very high levels of pain; this description of extreme pain was the consistent factor in explaining why certain patient's quality of life was valued as 'worse than death'. Pain is the symptom of disease that people perceive to have the greatest detriment on quality of life and fear most as a consequence of disease.
Rheumatoid arthritis is the most common form of inflammatory arthritis and affects half a million people in the UK. The disease is more common in women than in men. It is a potentially disabling disease with a considerable economic impact. Within ten years of onset of rheumatoid arthritis, at least 50% of patients are unable to hold down a full-time job.

"Our findings highlight the burden of disease experienced by patients with arthritis. However quality of life valuations by the general population based on abstract health state descriptions, may not reflect the fact that treatments are available to relieve the pain of arthritis and alter the long-term outcome. We believe that further research is needed to see if the general public would rate this degree of pain differently if they had more information about the character of arthritis" says Dr Mark Harrison PhD of the University of Manchester.