Response rates of three modes of survey administration and survey preferences of rheumatoid arthritis patients.

OBJECTIVE: To compare survey response rates and preferences for 3 modes of survey administration in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. METHODS: Adult RA patients were identified from Kaiser Permanente Southern California's electronic medical records. One hundred patients each were randomly assigned to telephone, mail with followup letter, and mail with followup telephone call as modes of survey administration. Respondents completed a 7-page survey (in English or Spanish) that included the Health Assessment Questionnaire disability index and pain scale, EuroQol 5-dimensions, and generic questions on preferences and sociodemographics. Response rates were based on the number of completed surveys received from the total number of patients contacted (n = 295; 5 were ineligible). RESULTS: The mean ± SD age of the cohort was 61 ± 12.3 years, with the majority being women (141 [85%] of 166). Of the 3 modes of survey administration, telephone (63 [64%] of 99) had the highest response rate, followed by mail with followup telephone call (55 [56%] of 98) and mail with followup letter (48 [49%] of 98). When asked about preference over administration mode, 57% (95 of 166) preferred to complete the survey by mail, followed by telephone (27 [16%] of 166) and internet (17 [10%] of 166). CONCLUSION: When asked about their choice of survey administration mode for reporting their health status, the majority of RA patients in this study had a strong preference for a mail survey as compared to a telephone interview. However, the response rate in the telephone administration mode of survey was the highest between the 3 modes of administration that were compared. Future studies in RA can achieve better response using telephone over mail-in surveys.

Histopatologia del tumor de Wilms en niños costarricenses

En el período comprendido entre 1971 y 1985, se encontraron 51 pacientes con diagnóstico de tumor de Wilms. Al revisarlos. Un caso correspondía a nefroma quísti.co benigno y fue excluído. De los 50 restantes, 29 se localizaron en el riñón derecho. 20 en el izquierdo y uno fue bilateraL Usualmente fueron tumores grandes. Con un diámetro promedio de 15 a 20 cm. La evaluación de la extensión del tumor, demostró que usualmente se extiende a la pelvis renat lo mismo que a los vasos renales. La cápsula del tumor se rompió en el transoperatorio en 7 oportunidades. Solamente se resecaron ganglios linfáticos en 16 pacientes y dos tenían metástasis. Hubo cuatro con blastoma nodular renat uno de los cuales fue catalogado como nefroblastomatosis. Esta lesión se considera preneoplásica. En cinco hubo malformaciones asociadas. Cuarenta y cuatro presentaron la histología típica del tumor de Wílms. Nueve tenían histología desfavorable. Cinco con anaplasia y 4 con tumor rabdoide maligno. Tres no se pudieron clasificar. No se encontraron casos de sarcoma de células claras. Se calculó una incidencia de 0.55 por cien mil habitantes por año, que es similar a la de otros países.