[Influence of physical treatment on disease activity and health status of patients with chronic arthritis].

Introduction: This is an open uncontrolled study about effects of physical treatment on disease activity parameters of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis.

Objective: The aim of the study was to establish if there was any improvement of disease activity parameters after four weeks of physical and spa treatment.

Method: We compared morning stiffness, tender and swollen joint count, body pain level and Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS-28) in patients with rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis, and assessed the effect of physical and spa treatment on those parameters. The research encompassed 109 patients: 69 with rheumatoid arthritis (RA group) and 40 with psoriatic arthritis (PA group). They were from Norway, staying for four weeks in June-September 2003. The groups served as their own controls--"one group pre-test post test" study. Disease activity measurement was made twice: at the beginning and at the end of treatment. The therapeutic set consisted of mud applications, kinesitherapy, mineral water pool and electrotherapy.

Results: At the beginning there was no significant difference in observed disease activity parameters between patients with rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis (p > 0.05). After four weeks of physical and spa treatment disease activity was significantly reduced in all observed parameters in both groups: morning stiffness (p < 0.001 RA + PA), tender joint count (p < 0.01 RA + PA), swollen joint count (p < 0.01 RA; p < 0.05 PA), body pain (p < 0.01 RA + PA) and DAS-28 score (p < 0.01 RA+PA).

Conclusion: Physical and spa treatment, together with climatic factors in Igalo, lead to a significant reduction of disease activity parameters of patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis and psoriatic arthritis.