The Use of Oral Analgesics and Pain Self-Efficacy Are Independent Predictors of the Quality of Life of Individuals with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Table 1

Participant characteristics.

Number of patients	85
Sex (males, females; n (%))	11 (14.9), 74 (85.1)
Age (years; mean ± SD, range)	63.0 ± 12.3, 17–85
BMI (kg/m^2; mean ± SD, range)	22.3 ± 4.0, 14.7–38.5
Disease duration (months; mean ± SD, range)	140.1 ± 116.5, 7–582
History of any RA-related operation, n (%)	40 (46.0)
Number of RA-related operations (mean ± SD, range)	0.9 ± 1.3, 0–6
Use of MTX, n (%)	55 (63.2)
Use of bDMARDs, n (%)	46 (52.9)
Use of oral steroids, n (%)	9 (10.3)
Use of oral analgesics, n (%)	25 (29.4)
MMP-3 levels (ng/mL; mean ± SD, range)	63.4 ± 45.1, 12.8–311.9
EQ-5D-5L (mean ± SD, range)	0.8096 ± 0.1570, 0.1722–0.9384
DAS28-CRP (mean ± SD, range)	1.3 ± 0.9, 1.0–5.3
PDQ (mean ± SD, range)	5.3 ± 4.5, 0–18
PSEQ (mean ± SD, range)	42.8 ± 13.0, 9–60
PCS (mean ± SD, range)	15.5 ± 11.2, 0–40

SD: standard deviation, BMI: body mass index, RA: rheumatoid arthritis, MTX: methotrexate, bDMARDs: biological disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, MMP-3: serum matrix metalloprotease-3, EQ-5D-5L: the European Quality of Life questionnaire, five dimensions, five levels, DAS28-CRP: disease activity score based on the 28-joint assessment–C-reactive protein, PDQ: painDETECT questionnaire, PSEQ: pain self-efficacy questionnaire, PCS: pain catastrophizing scale.