Arbeidsparticipatie van patiënten met reumatoïde artritis en spondyloartritis

Conflict of interest: none declared. Financial support: none declared.

• Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and the various types of spondylarthritis (SpA) contribute significantly to employee disability.

• Each of these inflammatory diseases has a great impact on physical and mental health, thereby restricting one’s ability to participate in one’s social roles.

• This may result in decreased productivity during working hours (sickness presenteeism), absenteeism and eventually, disablement, with financial consequences for the patient as well as society.

• By incorporating biologicals into treatment strategies, the health of patients with RA and SpA can be better regulated; however, the cost of such treatment has risen considerably.

• There are indications that part of these high treatment expenditures can be regained by improved employee productivity of these patients.