Fears and beliefs of people living with rheumatoid arthritis: a systematic literature review

Adv Rheumatol. 2018 May 24;58(1):1. doi: 10.1186/s42358-018-0001-4.

Abstract

Objective: To assess the main fears and beliefs of people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and their effect on treatment outcomes; METHODS: A systematic literature review was conducted in Pubmed/Medline; original articles published up to May 2017, reporting fears and/or beliefs of adult patients with RA were analyzed. Fears and beliefs were collected by two independent researchers and grouped into categories.

Results: Among 474 references identified, 84 were analyzed, corresponding to 24,336 RA patients. Fears were reported in 38.4% of the articles (N = 32/84): most studies described fears related to pharmacological therapy (50.0%, N = 16/32) and fear of disability (28.1%, N = 9/32). Beliefs were reported in 88.0% of articles (N = 74/84) and were found to moderate the patient-perceived impact of RA in 44.6% (N = 33/74), mainly the emotional impact (18.9%, N = 14/74); measures of function, quality of life, fatigue and pain were also found to be affected by patients' beliefs in 8.1% (N = 6/74), 6.8% (N = 5/74), 2.7% (N = 2/74) and 2.7% (N = 2/74) of the articles, respectively. Beliefs about therapy were linked to adherence in 17.6% of articles (N = 13/74) and beliefs about cause of RA predicted coping patterns in 12.2% of publications (N = 9/74). Only 9.5% (N = 8/84) of articles reported fears and/or beliefs of patients living outside Europe and North America: there was only one work which recruited patients in Latin America and no article included patients from Africa.

Conclusion: In RA, patients' beliefs are linked to impact of disease and non-adherence. Further research is needed on fears/ beliefs of patients living outside Europe and North America.

Keywords: Beliefs; Fears; Rheumatoid arthritis.

Publication types

  • Systematic Review

MeSH terms

  • Adaptation, Psychological
  • Antirheumatic Agents / adverse effects*
  • Arthritis, Rheumatoid / psychology*
  • Arthritis, Rheumatoid / therapy
  • Fatigue / psychology
  • Fear / psychology*
  • Female
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
  • Humans
  • Male
  • Middle Aged
  • Pain / psychology
  • Patient Compliance / psychology
  • Quality of Life
  • Treatment Outcome

Substances

  • Antirheumatic Agents