Foot Disorders in Rheumatoid Arthritis Patients and their Impact on Functional Ability and Quality of Life

Abstract

Aim of the work:This study aimed to determine frequency of foot disorders in RA patients , find relation between RA disease activity and foot disorders and find out their impact on functional ability and quality of life.
Patients and methods: This study included a total of 300 RA patients. All patients were subjected to the following; full history taking, clinical and laboratory examination, disease activity assessment by modified DAS28, Manchester Foot Pain and Disability Index (MFPDI, Foot and Ankle Ability Measure (FAAM), and Rheumatoid Arthritis Quality of Life (RAQoL).
Results: We found that178 patients (59.3%) had foot complaint. Among the studied RA patients, there were 122 patients (46.7%) had ankle affected, 91 patients (30.3%) had subtalar affected, 73 patients (24.3%) had interphalangeal affected, 70 patients (23.3%) had midtarsal affected and 64 patients (21.3%) had metatarsophalangeal affected. There were high significant differences between RA patients with foot disorders and those without foot disorders regarding physical function and quality of life. Patients with high disease activity had more foot pain and disability, also they had more impairment of physical function and quality of life.
Conclusion: Significant high frequency of foot disorders among RA patients. RA patients with high risk of developing foot disorders had high BMI , high disease activity and longer disease duration. Foot disorders had great impact on functional ability and quality of life in RA patients.