Strong marriages can reduce rheumatoid arthritis patients’ pain

WASHINGTON - A new study has revealed that strong marriages for patients suffering from rheumatoid arthritis (RA)-a painful and debilitating condition-is associated with experiencing less pain and enjoying better functioning and quality of life.

Researchers conducted a multi-centre study involving 255 patients and examined the relationships of martial status and marital adjustment to pain and physical disability in RA patients.

They reported that among married subjects, better martial adjustment was associated with less psychological disability and marginally less pain.

The findings have suggested that being married may have benefits for health status, provided the marriage is well adjusted or, at least, not distressed.

A key implication of the study is that using marital status as an indicator of social support for RA patients might not be inadequate, and clinicians must consider the level of adjustment or distress in the relationship when determining the degree and benefit of social support from the spouse.

The study was published in The Journal of Pain. (ANI)