The next phase of this research will evaluate how the different depressive symptom subtypes are associated with longitudinal changes in OA disease severity.
A Unique Perspective
Dr. Rathbun has a personal perspective that blurs the lines between chronic conditions, neuropsychiatric functioning and affective disorders. Since childhood, he has suffered from chronic perseverative stuttering.
“Stress and anxiety about social and speaking situations cause me to experience extended blocks and preservations in my speech patterns,” he acknowledges. Over time and with much work and many challenges, Dr. Rathbun says he has adapted to his condition and learned to function successfully as an independent scientist in the academic research setting. “There is much more to understand about the complexities that exist between the intersection of physical and mental health, particularly as it relates to depression and its effects and interactions with musculoskeletal disorders,” he says
Through his research, Dr. Rathbun strives to understand and improve every aspect of depression care in arthritis patients, from changes in symptom severity to clinical decision making and response to treatment. “I hope that my work helps contribute to a paradigm shift to individualized prevention and treatment approaches for depression that occur in conjunction with the routine management of a patient’s arthritis symptoms.”
Carina Stanton is a freelance science journalist in Denver.
References
- Stubbs B, Aluko Y, Myint PK, et al. Prevalence of depressive symptoms and anxiety in osteoarthritis: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Age Ageing. 2016 Mar;45(2):228-35. doi: 10.1093/ageing/afw001. Epub 2016 Jan 20.
- Rathbun AM, Yau MS, Shardell M, et al. Depressive symptoms and structural disease progression in knee osteoarthritis: Data from the Osteoarthritis Initiative. Clin Rheumatol. 2017 Jan;36(1):155–163. doi: 10.1007/s10067-016-3495-3. Epub 2016 Dec 12.
- Rathbun AM, Stuart EA, Shardell M, et al. Dynamic effects of depressive symptoms on osteoarthritis knee pain. Arthritis Care Res (Hoboken). 2017 Mar 20. doi: 10.1002/acr.23239. [Epub ahead of print]
Additional Resources
Read Dr. Rathbun’s peer-reviewed research in which he investigated the potential links between depressive symptoms in structural disease progression in OA, and the initial framework and motivation for the dynamic interactions between depressive symptoms and OA disease severity.
