2021 Volume 33 Issue 3 Pages 221-232
The current study aimed to evaluate the reliability and validity of the Body Image Assessment Tool（BIAT）in Japanese patients with rheumatoid arthritis（RA）. A total of 265 outpatients（non-surgical group）and inpatients（surgical group）with RA and 62 healthy hospital staff members were asked to complete the BIAT questionnaire. To assess reliability, baseline data from 265 patients were used for the internally consistency, and baseline and 3-week data from 62 patients in the healthy group and baseline, 6-month, and 1-year data from 76 patients in the non-surgical group were used for the test-retest method. The validity of BIAT as a clinical assessment was evaluated using. BDI-II（Beck Depression Inventory-II）as an existing assessment method. 265 patients with RA were grouped into remission, low disease activity, moderate disease activity, and high disease activity groups based on DAS28-CRP, and the association with BIAT was examined. We also examined whether there was a difference in BIAT between the non-surgical and surgical groups. BIAT was highly consistent, with alpha coefficients above 0.8 in both the overall assessment and the assessment of each construct. The overall BIAT score showed a significant negative correlation（r=-0.64, P<0.001）with the BDI-II. BIAT tended to be lower in patients with higher disease activity. Interestingly, patients of the surgical group showed worse BI disturbance than those of the non-operative group. In conclusion, BIAT was a highly consistent and stable assessment tool, and can be applicable for Japanese patients with RA.
