Kinesiophobia in Rheumatoid Arthritis: Associations With Functional Disability, Disease Activity, and Related Clinical Factors

Objectives: Impairment of physical function is a core feature of RA, particularly in patients with high disease activity where pain and inflammation directly limit movement. but, Reduced mobility in RA is not exclusively driven by inflammatory pathology. There are non-inflammatory factors, including kinesiophobia, fatigue, depression, and anxiety, may significantly contribute to functional limitation and may initiate a self-perpetuating cycle in which movement avoidance leads to physical deconditioning, muscle weakness, and progressive functional decline. The aim of this study is to examine the relationship between kinesiophobia and functional outcomes in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and to investigate its associations with disease activity, pain, fatigue, depressive symptoms, anxiety, and sarcopenia, with a focus on factors relevant to functional assessment and rehabilitation. Patients and Methods A case - control study will be conducted on Two hundred adult patients previously diagnosed with RA according to ACR/EULAR 2010 criteria for RA and 200 apparently healthy volunteers with age and sex matching will be involved in the study. The study will be conducted in Rheumatology department, Minia university Hospital, Egypt. All patients will be subjected to history taking, clinical examination, and assessment of the following parameters: 1. Kinesiophobia: using the Arabic version of TSK-17 2. Disease activity: using DAS 28 3. pain severity using the Visual Analogue Scale (VAS) 4. Fatigue: using the Arabic version of the Fatigue Severity Scale (FSS) 5. Depression: using the Arabic version of the BDI-2 6. Anxiety: using the Arabic version of the BAI 7. sarcopenia using the Arabic version of the SARC-F questionnaire 8. Functional disability: using the Arabic version of the HAQ-DI 9. Physical activity:using IPAQ-SF