Taylor, Amy;
Bu, Feifei;
Steptoe, Andrew;
Fancourt, Daisy;
Kung, claryn;
(2025)
Trajectories of physical, mental health and health satisfaction before and after arthritis diagnosis: a UK population-based study.
BMC Musculoskeletal Disorders
, 26
, Article 214. 10.1186/s12891-025-08444-y.
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Abstract
Background: Few longitudinal studies have explored changes in physical and mental health in individuals prior to and after arthritis diagnosis. This is important for understanding timing of diagnosis in relation to symptoms and their broader health impacts. Methods: Adults (≥ 16 years) reporting new diagnoses of arthritis between 2010 and 2023 in the UK Household Longitudinal Study (UKHLS) were included in the study (N = 5,258), along with a 1:1 matched sample of arthritis-free individuals. Trajectories of physical health (assessed using the SF-12 physical component summary), mental health (General Health Questionnaire (GHQ-12)) and satisfaction with health were constructed from 8 years prior to 8 years after diagnosis using growth curve models with linear splines. Difference in difference analysis was used to test whether changes in health measures following diagnosis were attributable to arthritis diagnosis. Results: Physical health decreased from 8 years prior to diagnosis, but began to show a steeper decline from 4 years before diagnosis. There was a small recovery in the year following diagnosis, followed by a continued decline from 4 years post diagnosis. Mental health worsened at 2 years prior to diagnosis and then remained relatively stable. Health satisfaction also decreased around 2 years prior to diagnosis, showing a gradual increase in the 3 years following diagnosis and then remaining stable. Patterns of change were similar by sex, neighbourhood deprivation and living situation. There was some evidence that changes in mental health and health satisfaction were larger and occurred earlier in individuals diagnosed at younger ages (16–49 year olds). Difference in difference models showed consistent findings, with deteriorations across all three outcomes in the arthritis group relative to their matched controls. Conclusions: Detectable changes in physical and mental health several years prior to diagnosis suggest the need to improve pathways to diagnosis. Persistence of worse mental health, particularly amongst younger people, highlights the importance of considering both physical and mental health in the years following diagnosis.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Trajectories of physical, mental health and health satisfaction before and after arthritis diagnosis: a UK population-based study |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1186/s12891-025-08444-y |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s12891-025-08444-y |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
| Keywords: | Arthritis, Mental health, Physical functioning, Health satisfaction |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > School of Life and Medical Sciences > Faculty of Medical Sciences > Div of Surgery and Interventional Sci |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10205556 |
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