The relationship of tilburg frailty score with disease activity and inflammatory in patients diagnosed of rheumatoi̇d arthri̇ti̇s

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disease of unknown etiology that causes erosion and deformities in the joint and surrounding structures, causing pain and inflammation in the joints. Frailty, on the other hand, has been defined as a geriatric syndrome that leads to a decrease in physiological functions with age, causes loss of function in metabolic, neuromuscular and immune systems, increases vulnerability to stress factors and leads to health problems. The aim of our study is to determine the relationship of frailty with disease activity and inflammation in patients with RA. A total of 200 people, including 100 patients with RA and 100 healthy controls, were included in the study. Participants in the study were provided with the frailty score, geriatric depression scale, hospital depression and anxiety scale and their participation in the questionnaire. In addition, the serum part of the blood samples taken from the participants was separated and the levels of Vitamin D, IL-6 and CCR-5 were evaluated in the serum samples. IBM SPSS Statistics Version 22.0 package program was used in the statistical analysis of the data. Statistical significance level was accepted as p<0.05 in all analyzes. The frailty score (p<0.001), depression score (p=0.003), HAD anxiety score (p<0.001) and HAD depression score (p<0.001) were found to be significantly higher in the RA group when compared to the control group. CCR-5 value was found to be significantly higher in the RA group when compared to the control group (p=0.004). There was no significant difference between RA and control groups in terms of IL-6 (p=0.272) and vitamin D (p=0.108) levels. CDAI and DAS-28 scores of patients who were fragile were found to be significantly higher than those without (p<0.001; p=0.025). As a result, frailty causes higher disease activity in patients with RA. In this respect, it is thought that fragility can trigger inflammation. We think that multicenter studies with a large population are needed for better progression of the disease by early detection and prevention of frailty in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.