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Upswings in Cheerful Mood and Disease Activity in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis

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Abstract

Purpose

The influence of a cheerful mood on disease activity levels in rheumatoid arthritis is investigated in this cross-sectional study.

Method

State cheerfulness (i.e., how individuals feel at the time of the assessment) and trait cheerfulness (i.e., how individuals usually feel) were assessed at the same time as the clinical indicators of disease activity and just before measuring patient-reported disease activity with the Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS-28).

Results

State cheerfulness contributed significantly to the variance in the DAS-28 scores that was not accounted for by trait cheerfulness or demographic or clinical variables. Higher state cheerfulness was associated with lower values of self-reported disease activity and C-reactive protein. The patient-reported disease activity was not uniquely caused by the clinical indicators of disease, but it also depended on patients’ cheerful mood at the moment of assessment.

Conclusion

The findings suggest interesting possibilities for the diagnosis and monitoring of disease activity in rheumatoid arthritis.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Granada, Granada, Spain

    Carlos Jesús Delgado-Domínguez, Alejandro Escudero-Contreras, Pilar Font-Ugalde, Desireé Ruiz-Vilchez, Eduardo Collantes-Estévez & Hugo Carretero-Dios

Authors
  1. Carlos Jesús Delgado-Domínguez
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  2. Alejandro Escudero-Contreras
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  3. Pilar Font-Ugalde
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  4. Desireé Ruiz-Vilchez
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  5. Eduardo Collantes-Estévez
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  6. Hugo Carretero-Dios
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Hugo Carretero-Dios.

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The authors conformed to the Helsinki Declaration concerning human rights and informed consent, and they followed correct procedures concerning treatment of humans and animals in research.

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

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Delgado-Domínguez, C.J., Escudero-Contreras, A., Font-Ugalde, P. et al. Upswings in Cheerful Mood and Disease Activity in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. Int.J. Behav. Med. 23, 606–610 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-016-9550-2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12529-016-9550-2

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