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The following is a summary of “Association between depression and anxiety and inability to achieve remission in rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis,” published in the November 2024 issue of Rheumatology by Henkemans et al. 

Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine the link between depression, anxiety, and failure to achieve remission in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and psoriatic arthritis (PsA) and explored their impact on disease activity. 

They included 400 RA and 367 patients with PsA from the tREACH and DEPAR cohorts, respectively. Depression or anxiety was identified in patients scoring >7 on the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Remission was defined as DAS44<1.6 for RA and DAPSA≤4 for PsA. Mixed models were used to assess the association between depression/anxiety at any timepoint over 2 years and remission, and to explore the impact of depression/anxiety on disease activity components. 

The results showed that at baseline, 20% of patients with RA and 18% of PsA had depression, while 30% of patients with RA and 23% of PsA had anxiety. After adjusting for anxiety, depression was linked to lower odds of remission over 2 years (OR 0.45 95%CI 0.25-0.80) for RA and OR 0.24 (95%CI 0.08-0.71) for PsA), but anxiety was not. Depression/anxiety were associated with higher tender joint count, worse general health, more pain, and slightly elevated inflammation, but not with more swollen joints in either condition. 

They found that depressive symptoms in patients with RA and PsA were linked to a lower likelihood of achieving remission. Healthcare professionals should have been vigilant in recognizing and addressing depressive symptoms during treatment. 

Source: academic.oup.com/rheumatology/advance-article/doi/10.1093/rheumatology/keae621/7879355