Evaluation of functional ability of rheumatoid arthritis based on HAQ score and BMD among South Indian patients

Aim of this study is to analyze the functional ability of rheumatoid arthritis among South Indian male and female patients based on HAQ score and forearm ulna-BMD measurement by peripheral DXA, and to investigate the correlation between forearm ulna-BMD and HAQ score among RA patients. Sixty-four patients with RA and 64 age- and sex-matched healthy controls were included in this study. The health assessment questionnaire test was self administered by each RA patients. The bone mineral density (BMD) in forearm ulna region was measured using peripheral Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry (osteometer model-DTX200 Meditech.Inc, Hawthorn, California, USA) both for RA patients and for healthy control group. RA patients (n = 64) and age- and sex-matched healthy controls (n = 64) were selected, of which 46 (72%) patients were women and 18 (28%) were men. The mean age was 47.75 ± 11.37 years, and a majority of the patients were in the age group of 30–75 years. The mean age of healthy controls was 46.42 ± 10.67 years. For male RA patients, U-BMD shows moderate significance with healthy controls (0.371 ± 0.05 (g cm²) [mean ± SD], 0.413 ± 0.05 (g cm²), P = 0.03). For female RA patients, U-BMD was highly significant with that of healthy controls (0.300 ± 0.132 (g cm²), 0.376 ± 0.05 (g cm²), P = 0.0006). Because as U-BMD decreases for RA patients, HAQ score increases, hence, Pearson correlation analysis revealed that U-BMD was negatively correlated with HAQ score (r = −0.732, P < 0.0001). Forearm U-BMD for RA patients is significantly lower than the healthy controls both for male and for female patients. There was a negative correlation found between HAQ score and P-DXA forearm U-BMD.