In the study, Ms. McCormick and colleagues conducted annual telephone interviews with 682 women with SLE from clinical and community sources recruited to participate in the study. Women were asked questions pertaining to poverty (household income above or below 125% of poverty level), educational attainment, household income (less than $40,000, $40,000–80,000, more than $80,000) and financial strain. Questions regarding financial strain included asking about current and anticipated hardships, such as inadequate housing, food or medical attention.
The majority of the women in the study were white (61%), followed by Asian-American (12%), African-American (11%), Hispanic/Latino (10%) and other (7%). The mean age was 51 years, 45% had a college education and 13% were living in poverty. A total of 161 women (24%) reported depression, representing an incidence rate of 8.8 per 100 person-years.
Along with high financial strain, moderate financial strain was also associated with an elevated (although statistically nonsignificant) risk of depression, said Ms. McCormick.
Emphasizing that depression is common in patients with SLE and highly treatable, Ms. McCormick said the findings of the study provide “additional incentive for routine screening for depression in all SLE patients.”
Sitting & Long-Term Cardiovascular Risk
“Promoting the message ‘sit less, move more’ may help reduce long-term risk of cardiovascular disease among people living with rheumatoid arthritis,” said Sally Fenton, PhD, research fellow, School of Sport, Exercise and Rehabilitation, University of Birmingham, United Kingdom.
Dr. Fenton said this is the key message of a study she and colleagues conducted to look at the association between patterns of sedentary behavior and light physical activity on cardiovascular risk among people with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The cross-sectional study included baseline data from 98 patients with RA who were taking part in the Physical Activity in Rheumatoid Arthritis (PARA) study. Patients first underwent clinical assessment to measure individual cardiovascular risk factors. Patients then wore a GT3X accelerometer on their right hip for seven days to assess their daily sedentary behavior patterns.
Of these patients, 61 (62%) wore the device at least 10 hours on four or more days and were included in the analysis. Most patients were female (67%), with a mean age of 55 years and a mean duration of RA of seven years.
After adjusting for age, gender and accelerometer wear time, the study found that variability in levels of engagement in sedentary behavior and light physical activity are relevant to long-term cardiovascular risk in patients with RA. Patients with higher levels of sedentary behavior had a higher risk of developing cardiovascular disease over the next 10 years, whereas patients with higher levels of light physical activity had a lower risk. The study also found that prolonged periods of sitting for 20 minutes or more may be particularly detrimental to cardiovascular health, according to Dr. Fenton.
