The Effect of Area-Level Socioeconomic Status on Disease Outcomes in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Results From an Australian Longitudinal Inception Cohort Study
Authors' conclusion
Disadvantageous SES was associated with higher disease activity, disability, and poorer QOL.
Study context
- Population
- Adult patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) diagnosed after June 2003, managed treat-to-target (T2T) in an Australian longitudinal cohort66.7% female
- Participants
- 255 patients
- Exposure
- Area-level socioeconomic status (SES) quintiles compared
- Outcome
- RA disease activity, disability, quality of life (QOL) and b/tsDMARD use by area-level SES
Methodological detailsprotocolized treat-to-target, observational, multivariable random effects regression with restricted cubic splines, time-to-event models for recurrent events
- Protocolized treat-to-target
- Observational
- Multivariable random effects regression with restricted cubic splines
- Time-to-event models for recurrent events
Main finding
As reported in the abstract
- Higher SES quintiles associated with lower DAS28-CRP (ordered trend)
- P = 0.03
- Higher SES quintiles associated with lower modified Health Assessment Questionnaire (mHAQ) (ordered trend)
- P = 0.001
- Higher SES quintiles associated with higher SF-36 PCS (ordered trend)
- P < 0.001
Observational data: associations, not effects.
Original publication
The Effect of Area-Level Socioeconomic Status on Disease Outcomes in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Results From an Australian Longitudinal Inception Cohort Study. J Rheumatol. Published 15 February 2026. doi:10.
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