Autonomous online health assessment questionnaire registry in daily clinical practice.

OBJECTIVE: Tight control in RA necessitates frequent disease monitoring; patients might participate by self-assessment of their functional status. Therefore, we assessed the feasibility and acceptability of autonomous online registry of physical functioning. METHODS: In two tertiary-care centres (in The Netherlands and France), consecutive RA patients were approached to perform autonomous registry of the HAQ in an electronic medical record. Feasibility and acceptability of autonomous HAQ registry was assessed through: (i) the percentage of acceptances; (ii) the time needed to register the HAQ (the Netherlands); (iii) patient satisfaction with autonomous registry; and (iv) willingness for future home-based HAQ completion, either self-declared (The Netherlands) or actual file access from home within 6 months (France). RESULTS: In all, 214 patients were approached; 163 agreed to participate; 137 (64% of 214) had complete data that were analysed. Median age was 56 years (range 20-78 years), 80% were female, median disease duration was 9 years. The median time needed to fill in the HAQ in the waiting room was 5.8 min; patient satisfaction was high (mean score 4.1 out of 5), self-declared willingness for autonomous registry at home was 73%. In the 6-month follow-up period, 46% of patients accessed their medical file from home at least once. CONCLUSION: Many RA patients reported willingness to self-monitor their disease online, but fewer than half of the patients actually did. To enhance patient autonomous monitoring, progress is needed in terms of Internet access, continuous patient support and, importantly, convincing patients that they will benefit from autonomous monitoring.

The value of conventional radiographs in undifferentiated arthritis: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic literature review on the diagnostic and predictive value of conventional radiographs (CR) in patients with undifferentiated arthritis (UA). METHODS: We performed an extended search using Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and abstracts from the 2007 and 2008 meetings of the American College of Rheumatology and the European League Against Rheumatism. Articles were included based on predefined inclusion criteria, and quality was assessed by using validated quality scales. RESULTS: In total, 25 articles were included from 6003 retrieved references. Five articles described a pure UA population, 20 articles described a mixed population [mostly rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and UA]. In studies on UA, erosions on CR were strong predictors of RA diagnosis [positive likelihood ratio (LR+) 3.5-10.9; odds ratio 7.6 and 8.7). In a more heterogeneous mixed population, 20 studies reporting on 11 cohorts found a relationship between CR findings and subsequent diagnosis of RA. LR+ for erosions and/or bony decalcifications ranged from 1.8 to 9.7, and there was greater prevalence of erosions and higher Sharp-van der Heijde score in the RA group at followup. With regard to prognosis in both UA and mixed populations, an association was found between number of abnormalities on CR and poor outcome. CONCLUSION: Several studies, in pure UA and mixed populations, clearly demonstrate that CR are helpful in predicting future diagnosis of RA or worse prognosis. However, absence of abnormalities on CR does not sufficiently exclude RA or other unfavorable outcome.

The value of magnetic resonance imaging and ultrasound in undifferentiated arthritis: a systematic review.

OBJECTIVE: To perform a systematic literature review of the diagnostic and prognostic value of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and ultrasound (US) in patients with undifferentiated peripheral inflammatory arthritis (UPIA), and to assess if MRI and US should be done at baseline and repeated, and if so, at what interval. METHODS: Medline, Embase, the Cochrane Library, and abstracts presented at the 2007 and 2008 meetings of the American College of Rheumatology and European League Against Rheumatism meetings were searched for diagnostic and prognostic studies of any duration examining the ability of MRI/US to predict outcome of patients with UPIA. Sensitivity, specificity, predictive values, and positive/negative likelihood ratios (LR+/LR-) were calculated. When available, odds ratios were extracted. Quality was appraised using validated scales. RESULTS: Regarding MRI, 11 out of 2595 screened references were included: 2 described pure undifferentiated arthritis (UA) populations and 9, mixed populations. Bone edema (LR+ 4.5) and combination of a distinct MRI synovitis and erosion pattern (LR+ 4.8) increased probability of developing rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Absence of MRI synovitis (LR- 0.2) and absence of a distinct synovitis pattern (LR- 0) decreased probability of developing RA. Regarding US, 2 out of 2111 references were included, both mixed populations; no data could be extrapolated for UPIA. CONCLUSION: MRI bone edema and combined synovitis and erosion pattern seem useful in predicting development of RA from UPIA. The value of US in UPIA remains to be determined. The absence of MRI synovitis seems useful in excluding development of RA. No data were found about the value of repeating MRI/US. Studies evaluating MRI/US in UPIA are scarce, but current knowledge strongly encourages further testing in UA.

Assessment of global disease activity in RA patients monitored in the METEOR database: the patient's versus the rheumatologist's opinion.

The objectives of this study were to compare the patient's (PtGDA) and physician's (PhGDA) assessment of global disease activity and to identify factors that might influence these differences as well as factors that may influence the patient's and the physician's scores separately. Anonymous data were used from 2,117 Dutch patients included in the Measurement of efficacy of Treatment in the Era of Rheumatology database. PtGDA and PhGDA were scored independently on a 100-mm visual analog scale (VAS) with 0 and 100 as extremes. The agreement, intraclass correlation coefficients (ICC), was calculated and a Bland-Altman plot was created to visualize the differences between PtGDA and PhGDA. Linear mixed model analysis was used to model PtGDA and PhGDA. Logistic repeated measurements were used to model the difference in PtGDA and PhGDA (PtGDA > PhGDA versus PtGDA ≤ PhGDA). Gender patient, gender physician, age, swollen joint count (SJC), tender joint count, VAS pain, disease duration, and erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR) were considered as possible determinants in both models. Mean (standard deviation) age was 57 (15) years and 67 % of the patients were female. Agreement between PtGDA and PhGDA was moderate (ICC, 0.57). Patients scored on average 11 units higher (worse) than rheumatologists (95 % limits of agreement, -25.2 to 47.6). Patient's perception of pain (VAS) was positively associated with a PtGDA being higher than PhGDA. Similarly, ESR and swollen joint counts were positively associated with a PtGDA being lower or equal to the PhGDA. Patients rate global disease activity consistently higher than their rheumatologists. Patients base their judgment primarily on the level of pain, physicians on the level of SJC and ESR.