Social participation in early and established rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine whether rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with different levels of restriction in social participation differ in disease related as well as psychosocial variables and whether a similar pattern can be found among early and established RA patients.

Method: Two samples of RA patients with early (n = 97; age = 53 ± 12.3 years; disease duration = 2.