Anna Čalfová, Ivica Lazúrová, Jozef Benka
Recently, a special methodological approach based on Quality of Life measurement has been applied for the assessment of individual status on the health-disease scale. In the context of chronic diseases this is often referred to as the concept of Health Related Quality of Life. Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, progressive disease with considerably heterogenous clinical manifestation, unpredictable course and uncertain prognosis. It leads to joint destruction, which is responsible for the deformity and disability seen in this disease which has considerable impact on QoL. Functional disability is understood as the key problem in rheumatology practice with a substantial socio-economic impact and connected with higher incidence of depression and anxiety.