Many people diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) have found themselves unable to work. In fact, older studies have found that upwards of half of all people diagnosed with RA for 10 or more years have been unable to continue working.
But more recent information has shown that this statistic has been improving since the mid-1980s.
A report in the April issue of Arthritis Care and Research details the research conducted by a team from Boston University. The researchers analyzed data from nearly 5,400 rheumatoid arthritis patients who responded to semi-annual surveys between January 2002 and December 2005. The survey collected responses related to work status, discontinuation of work and discontinuation of work due to arthritis.
The study found that 85% of the participants were employed at the time they were diagnosed and that 56% were still employed. 44% of those that were not employed indicated that they were disabled.
As expected, the percentage of people that stopped working as a result of arthritis based disability increased with the duration of the disease.
The researchers concluded that even though the work disability was high, it may actually represent a decline from the 50% reported in 1987.
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Originally posted 2008-04-23 21:08:45. Republished by Blog Post Promoter
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