OBJECTIVES: The objective of this study was to describe caregiver burden for patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis(RA) in Japan. METHODS: Caregiver burden was collected as patient reports of time spent by family members or caregivers per week as part of a questionnaire. This questionnaire was administered to 307 consecutive RA patients at Nippon Medical School attending the RA clinic from June to November in 2002. A health care resource utilization form was also administered to patients and physicians to collect data on patient demographics, disease duration, type of DMARD used, number of outpatient visits, hospitalization and surgeries. All statistical analysis of data were conducted using SPSS11.5. RESULTS: The patient population (N=307) was predominantly female (86.3%) with an average age of 61years. The mean age at onset of RA was 44.3 years, with a mean disease duration of 16.6 years. The most commonly used antirheumatic agents were: methotrexate (46.4%), bucillamine (29.2%) and salazosulfapyridine (15.0%). The mean Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) scores for the surveyed patients(N=303) was 0.83 (}0.76). A majority of surveyed patients had joint-replacement, joint formation and joint restoration surgeries. The per patient frequency of joint replacement, joint formation and joint restoration surgery was 1.2, 0.9, and 0.11, respectively. Mean time spent by family members (N=219) in patient care was 7.49 (}13.39) hours per week Mean time spent by caregivers (N=168) in patient care was 1.88(}6.5) hours per week. CONCLUSIONS: Although RA patients in Japan have lower disability compared to patients with similar disease duration in the Western countries, rheumatoid arthritis remains a burdensome condition in Japan. Our results indicate that rheumatoid arthritis is associated with caregiver burden for a large proportion of patients.