What do young people with rheumatic disease believe to be important to research about their condition? A UK-wide study.

BACKGROUND: The involvement of people of all ages including young people in research is now widely advocated but prioritisation of research topics is still driven largely by professional agendas. Evidence from adult literature has reported a mismatch between a researcher and patient generated list of research topics. There have been no studies to date exploring the priorities of young people with long term conditions other than in SLE. The study aimed to explore the research priorities of young people across the UK with respect to rheumatic conditions. METHODS: Focus groups were undertaken with young people aged 11-24 years with rheumatic conditions recruited across the UK via members of the Barbara Ansell National Network for Adolescent Rheumatology BANNAR and relevant national charities. Data was analysed using a Framework approach. Participants discussed their beliefs about what should be researched in: Basic Science; Clinical Medicine; Health Services, Psychosocial, and Public Health. They were then invited to prioritize these areas in terms of how much funding they should receive. RESULTS: Thirteen focus groups were held involving 63 participants (18 males: 45 females, mean age 16 years, range 10 to 24) in all four nations of the UK. Young people's research priorities were influenced by whether they felt research would achieve benefits for all or just some patients and long or short term goals. Another influence was whether participants felt that research areas were already well funded. Across all groups, Basic Science was a key priority and participants felt that psychosocial research should be prioritized more. Health Services Research was a lower priority, as the majority of participants were happy with their care. Clinical medicine was not a high priority as young people were happy with their medication or uncomfortable with trying new ones. Finally, for nearly all groups, Public Health was a low priority. Differences were also observed between the two age groups and across the geographically diverse focus groups. CONCLUSION: Understanding young people's research priorities is important to develop research that is in tune with their needs. The results highlight the importance of considering the whole age range of adolescence and young adulthood as well as geographical diversity. The findings from this work will inform the future research of the Barbara Ansell National Network for Adolescent Rheumatology BANNAR in the UK.

The association between low socioeconomic status with high physical limitations and low illness self-perception in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis: results from the Childhood Arthritis Prospective Study.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the association between socioeconomic status (SES) and delay to a pediatric rheumatology clinic, disease severity, and illness perception in patients with juvenile idiopathic arthritis in England. METHODS: Using the Index of Multiple Deprivation, 923 consecutive children from the Childhood Arthritis Prospective Study were assigned to SES groups: high-SES (19.1%), middle-SES (44.5%), or low-SES (36.4%). At baseline, disease activity was assessed, and the Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire (C-HAQ), the Illness Perception Questionnaire, and the Child Health Questionnaire, version Parent Form 50, were completed. Linear median regression analyses or zero-inflated negative binominal (ZINB) regression analyses were used. RESULTS: Delay to first pediatric rheumatology consultation was the same between the 3 SES groups. Although disease activity scores assessed by the pediatric rheumatologist did not differ between the 3 SES groups, persons in the low-SES group recorded higher C-HAQ scores compared to the high-SES group (zero-inflated part of ZINB odds ratio 0.28 [95% confidence interval (95% CI) 0.14, 0.55], count part of ZINB ß 0.26 [95% CI 0.05, 0.48]). Parents with low SES also reported more often that their children's school work or activities with friends had been limited. Furthermore, the low-SES group had a worse perception about the consequences of the disease and the effect of treatment than those in the high-SES group. CONCLUSION: Patients from a low-SES background report more problems with daily activities and have a lower perception of the consequences of the disease than patients from a high-SES background, warranting special attention from a multidisciplinary team.

Agreement between proxy and adolescent assessment of disability, pain, and well-being in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

OBJECTIVES: Adolescents with juvenile idiopathic arthritis have demonstrated substantial disagreement with their proxy's assessment of their disability, pain, and well-being. Our objective was to describe the clinical and psychological factors associated with discordance. STUDY DESIGN: This analysis included 204 proxy-adolescent (median age, 13 years) dyads that completed a Childhood Health Assessment Questionnaire for disability with 100-mm visual analogue scales for pain and well-being. Depressive symptoms in adolescents were measured by the Mood and Feelings Questionnaire and in proxies the General Health Questionnaire. Disagreement was assessed using Bland-Altman plots. Associations with discordance were identified using logistic regression analyses. RESULTS: There was higher agreement for disability (84%) than for pain (71%) and well-being (66%). Regression analyses found no association between age, sex, or disease duration and disagreement. However, relationships between disease activity and disagreement in outcomes were identified. Independent associations were found between increasing Mood and Feelings Questionnaire scores and disagreement in pain and well-being. CONCLUSIONS: Proxy and adolescent reports of pain and well-being are more likely to disagree in those with severe disease. Adolescents who report depressive symptoms are also more likely to disagree with their proxy. The reasons for these are multifactorial, and considerations of both reports are important when assessing outcomes in juvenile idiopathic arthritis.

Investigating the viability of genetic screening/testing for RA susceptibility using combinations of five confirmed risk loci.

OBJECTIVE: Five loci-the shared epitope (SE) of HLA--DRB1, the PTPN22 gene, a locus on 6q23, the STAT4 gene and a locus mapping to the TRAF1/C5 genetic region--have now been unequivocally confirmed as conferring susceptibility to RA. The largest single effect is conferred by SE. We hypothesized that combinations of susceptibility alleles may increase risk over and above that of any individual locus alone. METHODS: We analysed data from 4238 RA cases and 1811 controls, for which genotypes were available at all five loci. RESULTS: Statistical analysis identified eight high-risk combinations conferring an odds ratio >6 compared with carriage of no susceptibility variants and, interestingly, 10% population controls carried a combination conferring high risk. All high-risk combinations included SE, and all but one contained PTPN22. Statistical modelling showed that a model containing only these two loci could achieve comparable sensitivity and specificity to a model including all five. Furthermore, replacing SE (which requires full subtyping at the HLA-DRB1 gene) with DRB1*1/4/10 carriage resulted in little further loss of information (correlation coefficient between models = 0.93). CONCLUSIONS: This represents the first exploration of the viability of population screening for RA and identifies several high-risk genetic combinations. However, given the population incidence of RA, genetic screening based on these loci alone is neither sufficiently sensitive nor specific at the current time.

Evaluation of nursing-specific drug information PDA databases used as clinical decision support tools.

BACKGROUND: Nursing is arguably the most organizationally diverse healthcare profession. Educational backgrounds may vary, even among similarly credentialed nurses. Drug information databases used as clinical decision support tools can improve access to pharmacologic information at point-of-care when housed on personal digital assistants. They may also help address the disparity in drug information and pharmacology education between nurses. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate nursing-specific drug information database content on personal digital assistants (PDAs). METHODS: Seven nursing-specific PDA databases were evaluated for scope (absence or presence of an answer) and completeness (three-point scale) via the use of 80 general category and 80 subspecialty drug information questions. Erroneous information was also tracked. Individual scope and completeness scores were delineated by rank order and chi square was performed to determine differences in scope and completeness scores between the databases. RESULTS: Davis's Drug Guide for Nurses (DDGN) and Nursing Lexi-Drugs (NLD) tied for the highest scores for scope, including each answering 72.5% of the 160 evaluation questions. No significant differences existed between their scores and those earned by Nursing2008 Drug Handbook (p<0.05). The highest scores for completeness were earned by NLD with 58.1% and DDGN at 57.1%. Saunders Nursing Drug Handbook was the only database that showed a significantly lower score in completeness as compared to the other six databases (p<0.05). A 4.2% overall error rate was found among database answers. DISCUSSION: Significant differences were found among the performances in the databases evaluated in this study for their ability to answer commonly encountered drug information issues in nursing practice. All databases contained some erroneous information and even the top performers failed to provide answers to more than one-fourth of the questions posed. The availability of accurate and timely drug information at point-of-care can play a vital role in patient management and outcomes, but current resources that are available need to be improved.