Journal Article

Health-related quality of life profiles of adults with arthritis and/or fibromyalgia: a cross-sectional study

Reeve, Bryce B., Schifferdecker, Karen E., Singh, Jasvinder A., Mueller, Kristen L., Knight, Erin M., Lin, Li, Carluzzo, Kathleen L.

2025

Overview

Purpose Adults with arthritis experience poor health-related quality of life (HRQOL), though research often focuses on single HRQOL outcomes or summary scores. We aimed to identify HRQOL profiles in adults with different arthritis types and determine risk and protective factors. Methods Data including PROMIS-29 Profile v2.1 and PROMIS Short Form v2.0 – Emotional Support 4a were collected through a national foundation’s online survey of adults with arthritis in the U.S. We used latent profile analysis (LPA) to characterize the heterogeneity in arthritis patients by clustering them into HRQOL profiles, based on statistical model fit and clinical interpretability. We fit a multinomial logistic regression model with HRQOL profile assignment as the outcome to determine associations with protective and risk factors. Results We included 25,305 adults with arthritis. The LPA results favored a five-HRQOL profile solution (entropy = 0.83). While some profiles displayed better HRQOL in some domains, 93% of the sample displayed impacted pain and physical functioning. One profile (20%) displayed mean T-scores nearly 2 standard deviations below the population mean. Despite poor physical HRQOL outcomes, one profile (10%) displayed average mental health. All demographic and clinical factors contributed significantly to the model, including risk factors (arthritis types, work status) and protective factors (more emotional support, starting exercise). Conclusion We identified profiles with consistently impacted HRQOL in arthritis, though one displayed average mental health functioning despite poor physical functioning. These results highlight the value of considering the patient’s HRQOL experience alongside treatment options, and the potentially positive impact of non-pharmacological interventions. Plain English Summary Why is this study needed? Adults with arthritis often have a variety of symptoms or experiences that impact different parts of their lives. Research sometimes only focuses on a few of those things rather than all of them. What is the key problem/issue/question this manuscript addresses? This study looks at several things that arthritis may affect, such as pain and ability to do physical activities, to understand the complexity of it and what situations in people’s lives may increase or decrease the effects. What is the main point of your study? There are five major groups of people with arthritis in terms of how it impacts their lives. Adults who are unable to work or who have multiple forms of arthritis are the most impacted by arthritis. However, some groups are doing as well as other adults without arthritis. What are your main results and what do they mean? The impacts of arthritis are complex. Focusing on these broader impacts important to patients and things that contribute to it might help with treatment options and interventions that go beyond medication.

• Publisher: Springer New York,Springer Nature B.V
• Subject: Adult / Aged / Arthritis / Arthritis - psychology / Cross-Sectional Studies / Female / Fibromyalgia / Fibromyalgia - psychology / Humans / Male / Medicine / Medicine & Public Health / Mental health / Middle Aged / Non-pharmacological intervention / Public Health / Quality of life / Quality of Life - psychology / Quality of Life Research / Sociology / Surveys and Questionnaires / United States