Introduction:

Spondyloarthritis is an umbrella term for a group of chronic rheumatic diseases, genetically and clinically related, that lead to an important and often undervalued phy-ansical and psychological load. For this reason, the objective of this work is to identify patients with depression and low self-esteem in a group of spondyloarthritis patients with regular follow-up in the Department of Rheumatology at the Hospital de Clínicas, San Lorenzo, from January to December 2017.

Methodology:

Descriptive cross-sectional study. Patients who fulfilled ASAS criteria for spondyloarthritis were included. Data was collected from the entry questionnaire to the spondyloarthritis patients’ registry of the Department of Rheumatology of the Hospital de Clínicas during 2017. The questionnaire included the mayor depression inventory, Rosemberg self-esteem test, BASDAI, BASFI, HAQ questionnaire, Graffar scale of social stratification and demographic data, such as age at disease onset, age at diagnosis and disease duration.

Results:

We included 19 patients, 14 (73.7%) male and 5 (26.3%) female, with a mean age of 38.57 ± 13.97 and 38 ± 11.16 years, respectively. Most were single (10/19, 52.6%) and from Gran Asunción (13/19, 68.4%). The mean age at symptom onset was 23.35± 12.52 years in men and 22.6 8.93 years in women, with a mean disease duration of 200.28 ±167.28 months in men and 202.6±131.05 months in women. Only 3/19 (15.8%) of patients were found to be depressed and 12/19 (63.1%) had high self-esteem. Concerning disease indexes, 42.2% of patients presented with a BASDAI score >4, 7 (36.8%) had a BASFI = 0,5 and 73.7% had an HAQ <1,14.

Conclusion:

The majority of patients are men in the 30-40 age range, without depression or low self-esteem.

        · resumen en Español     · texto en Español     · Español ( pdf )