LAUSR

The objective of this survey was to gather patients’ perspectives on how stress triggered their inflammatory arthritis as well as exacerbates flares in their disease. NRAS wanted to reach people living with RA and other forms of inflammatory arthritis via a national survey to gauge how they recognise and manage stress, and whether health professionals considered stress as a factor in their active disease. The survey was designed to capture demographics, impact of stress on patients’ disease as well as work status and restrictions on lifestyle. The national online survey was distributed via all NRAS social media platforms as well as email. 1265 responses from across the UK were gathered. The majority of respondents were female (87.0%) and over the age of 55 years old (70.5%). Approximately 45% had a disease duration of more than 10 years, 30% between 4 and 10 years, and 23% less than 3 years. When asked on a scale of 1 (not at all) to 5 (completely) how much stress had impacted the onset of their arthritis symptoms, 56% responded either ‘completely’ or ‘greatly’. Only 9% reported that stress did not have an impact on the onset of their symptoms. When asked if they felt a stressful event in the 12 months prior to their diagnosis had triggered their inflammatory arthritis 28% said yes and 48% responded maybe. Some of the top reported causes of stress prior to diagnosis were: death of a close family member, menopause, work difficulties and family commitments. The majority of respondents (67%) said that health professionals did not ask them about stress during the diagnosis process, with only 11% saying this was discussed. Participants were asked how much they agreed with the statement that they are often asked about their mental health in routine appointments - 75% disagreed or strongly disagreed. With the majority of respondents identifying that stress and stressful events exacerbate their symptoms of inflammatory arthritis, more should be done to measure and offer support for managing stress. While many had found their own ways of coping with stress more needs to be done to make support more easily accessible. Further research would be beneficial in identifying if managing stress within this patient population could significantly reduce inflammatory arthritis symptoms, reducing the distress and pain caused by flares and also reduce the impact on the health service of clinical intervention. Disclosure C. Jacklin: Grants/research support; InMedix funded with hands off grant this survey work. E. Caton: None. S. Matthews: None.