الفهرس 
Introduction and Aim of The WorkOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
 |  | from | 186 |  |  |
| | | from | 186 | | |
Abstract
Introduction: Rheumatoid arthritis is a potentially disabling disease and has adverse effects on physical, mental and social well being of affecetd individuals. The Short Form 36 (SF36) is such an instrument, which covers the most central dimensions of health and allows for such comparisons across diseased populations and healthy people and therefore allow good care and attention to manage the affected apect of life. In our study we aimed at studying the impact of RA on the quality of life of these patients and to detect any correlation exists between generic health assessment instrument (SF36) and a specific disease instrument such as composite activity index , functional index (HAQ) and radiological score (SHS). Our study was conducted on: a group of 60 Egyptian RA patients compared with control group; 100 apparently healthy controls matched for age,sex and educational level with RA patients. All patients were subjected to: history taking, general and local examination, rheumatological assessment including disease activityby CAI, functional assessment by HAQ, quality of life assessment by the Arabic version of SF36 and radiological scoring using Van der Heijde through plain x ray on both hands and feet. Results of this study showed: The Arabic version of SF36 has proved to be highly reliable with very low errors in the intra observer and inter observer retest. Patients with RA showed significantly impaired quality of life than that of controls.Patients with RA showed significantly impaired quality of life in patients living in rural areas than those living in urban areas, manual workers than (professionals & students) and illiterate than highly educated Highly positive significant correlation was found between the all aspects of quality of life in RA patients and their disease activity, functional status and radiological damage. Conclusion and Recommendations for further studies:we have developed an Arabic version of SF36 with Egyptian dialect for the assessment of quality of life in the Egyptian patients. which has proved to be reliable, easy to use, and understandable by the average Egyptian patients. Comparing Arabic version of SF36 with the Arabic version of other instruments Therefore, validity of SF36 can be proved, the sensitivity of the Arabic version of SF36 can be assessed in a longitudianl study by measuring the changes of patient quality of life overtime.