Abstract: Objective To explore the association between disease activity and health utility values(HUV) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis(RA) in China, and to analyze other factors that may affect health utility values, providing a basis for individualized treatment and health management for RA patients. Methods Based on the Chinese Registry of Rheumatoid arthritis cohort, this study included 1 017 diagnosed RA patients. The EQ-5D-3L scale was used to assess the health utility values, while clinical data, disease activity, and potential influencing factors(such as age, gender, and comorbidities) were collected. Tobit regression models were employed to analyze the association between disease activity and health utility values, and to investigate other potential influencing factors. Results The median health utility value for RA patients was 0.78[0.59,0.89]. Patients with moderate to high disease activity had significantly lower health utility values as compared to those in remission phase or with low disease activity(median 0.70 vs. 0.87,P＜0.001). Tobit regression analysis showed a significant association between disease activity and health utility values(P＜0.001). Additionally, older age, female gender, use of glucocorticoids, and comorbidity with diabetes were associated with lower health utility values(P＜0.05). Conclusions Health utility values of RA patients are closely related to disease activity, with higher disease activity leading to a significant reduction in health utility values. Early control of RA disease activity may help improve patients' quality of life.

Key words: rheumatoid arthritis, EQ-5D-3L, health utility value, disease activity