Rheumatoid arthritis and sleep quality.

Background: Sleep disturbances are common in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and contribute to loss of life quality.

Objective: To study associations of sleep quality with pain, depression and disease activity in RA.

Methods: This is a transversal observational study of 112 RA patients submitted to measurement of DAS-28, Epworth scale for daily sleepiness, index of sleep quality by Pittsburg index, risk of sleep apnea by the Berlin questionnaire and degree of depression by the CES-D (Center for Epidemiologic Studies Depression scale) questionnaire.

Epidural steroids for low back pain syndromes.

Background And Objectives: Low back pain syndromes are major causes of morbidity and disability. Their therapeutic management is often based on conservative measures, such as rest, analgesia, physical therapy, and even surgical and rehabilitation procedures. This study aimed at describing the use of epidural steroids to treat low back pain syndromes.