Adaptación al español y validación del cuestionario de detección epidemiológica para artritis reumatoidea / Adaptation and validation to Spanish of rheumatoid arthritis epidemiology detection questionnaire

La detección epidemiológica de la artritis reumatoidea constituye un desafío, dado lo proteiforme de su presentación, por lo que la generación o adaptación y validación de instrumentos es de vital importancia. El objetivo de este estudio es la adaptación lingüística y validación al castellano de un cuestionario utilizado previamente (The prevalence of rheumatoid arthritis in Sweden. Scand J Rheumatol 1999; 28:340-3). Se utilizó una muestra de pacientes con artritis reumatoidea conocida (criterios ACR 87) y controles sanos (N total = 100) para estimar las propiedades de factibilidad, fiabilidad, validez, sensibilidad y especificidad. La sensibilidad del instrumento fue del 100 por ciento (96,9-100), especificidad 94,1 por ciento (88,4-99,7), con un coeficiente Kappa 0,83 (IC95 por ciento: 0,70-0,97) p <0,01. La concordancia entre las preguntas resultó significativa, con Kappa 0,81 (IC95 por ciento: 0,66-0,96) p <0,01 y la consistencia interna mostró un coeficiente de Cronbach 0,892. El análisis factorial exploratorio mostró dosdimensiones coherentes con la versión original.

Risk factors for hepatotoxicity induced by antituberculosis drugs.

To evaluate the risk factors involved in antituberculosis treatment-induced hepatotoxicity. In a retrospective study we analyzed the rate of drug-induced hepatotoxicity in a sample of 456 patients. Patients received a combination of drugs including isoniazid, rifampin, pirazinamide and streptomycin or ethambutol. The association among hepatotoxicity and several risk factors (age, sex, alcoholism and HIV infection) was studied by univariate methods, stratified analysis and the multiple logistic regression model. Signs of liver injury were found in 9.86% of the treated patients. In the logistic model, the adjusted odds ratios (OR) and significance were found as follows: a) for alcoholism, OR = 17.31 (95% CI: 6.35-47.16), p < 0.001; b) for HIV infection, OR = 3.23 (95% CI: 1.47-7.11), p = 0.003 and c) for female sex, OR = 2.44 (95% CI: 1.22-4.86), p = 0.011. Age was not significantly associated with hepatotoxicity. Alcoholism, HIV infection and female sex were associated with an increased risk of hepatotoxicity in this study.

Topical fish oil in psoriasis--a controlled and blind study.

Omega-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids compete with arachidonic acid as substrates for lipoperoxidases, which transform them into leukotrienes with low biological activity. As this process, in skin, may benefit psoriatic patients, a randomized controlled single blind-study was carried out on a sample of 25 patients. In the study fish oil (FO) was compared with liquid paraffin (LP); both were topically applied and administered daily for 6 h under an occlusive dressing over a 4-week period. Evaluations were performed weekly assessing erythema, scaling, plaque thickness (induration) and itching. The results showed statistically significant improvement in erythema and scaling for both treatments compared to basal values; significant differences between treatments were achieved in scaling but not in erythema. Compared to baseline, FO significantly improved plaque thickness while LP did not. After 4 weeks, FO proved to be significantly better than LP. All patients accepted the treatment despite its unpleasant smell. Irritation and a burning sensation were reported in the FO treated plaque of one patient. This adverse effect reverted after completing the treatment. These findings demonstrate that topical FO shows a better performance than LP under an occlusive dressing.