The assessment of functional and psycho-emotional status in complex medical rehabilitation of patients with rheumatoid diseases

• Main Authors: Victoria CHIHAI, Alisa TABIRTA, Anatolie VIZDOAGA, Lucia MAZUR-NICORICI, Oleg PASCAL, Minodora MAZUR
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Balkan Medical Union 2020-12-01
• Series: Archives of the Balkan Medical Union
• Subjects: quality of life; rheumatic damage to the hand; functional status
• Online Access: https://umbalk.org/the-assessment-of-functional-and-psycho-emotional-status-in-complex-medical-rehabilitation-of-patients-with-rheumatoid-diseases/
• ISSN: 1584-9244; 2558-815X

Introduction. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic, chronic condition that belongs to autoimmune diseases, characterized by synovial membrane damage with the involvement of connective tissue, which leads to important functional limitations. The objective of the study was to estimate the functional and psycho-emotional status in people with rheumatic damage in relation to the degree of activity and differentiated programs of medical rehabilitation. Material and methods. The data were collected from 67 patients diagnosed with moderate activity RA, aged 29-73 years, of both sexes, randomized in 2 groups (test group L(T) – 31 patients, and control group L(C) – 36 patients). Patients in the test group were involved in medical rehabilitation programs with active-assisted kinetic techniques, individualized for each patient. All persons included in the study were clinically-functionally examined with the application of a set of identical functional tests at admission and again, more than one month after treatment. The functional capacity of the hand was assessed by testing bi-digital, poly-digital and palm-based forceps (dots). The severity of the pain was assessed by visual analogue scale. The SF-11 (Medical Outcomes Study Short-Form Health Survey) scale was applied to assess the quality of life. The results obtained were analyzed using the Student test (p<0.05 value considered statistically significant). Results. One month after initiation of physiotherapeutic rehabilitation treatment in the L(T) test group, the average pain value decreased from 78.531±1.36 to 51.231±1.38 (р<0.001) points. The testing of the hand function in the L(T) test group showed an increase in scores from 4.27±1.25 to 7.31±1.03 (р<0.01) points. Application of the SF11 scale one month after treatment revealed in the L(T) test group the increase in psycho-emotional parameters: mental state (MS) from 40.12±2.13 to 72.14±7.1 (р<0.01) points; functioning of the emotional role (ER) from 27.24±1.23 to 68.43±3.12 (р<0.01) points, vitality (VT) from 22.37±4.32 to 35.28±3.14 (р<0.01) points. Conclusions. Medical rehabilitation programs with kinetic techniques have considerably improved clinical-functional manifestations, by reducing pain and improving hand function, mental state, emotional role, and general perception of health in people with rheumatic damage.