Self-report questionnaire scores in rheumatoid arthritis compared with traditional physical, radiographic and laboratory measures

Author(s): Calllahan, L., Brooks, R., Fuchs, H., Olsen, N., Kaye, J.

Journal/Book: Annals of Internationale Medicine. 1989; 110: 259-266.

Abstract: Study Objective: To assess whether scores on a simple self-report questionnaire to depict the clinical status of pa-tients with rheumatoid arthritis are correlated with tradi-tional measures of physical, radiographic, laboratory, func-tional, and global status.Design: The self-report questionnaire was administered at the same time the following variables were assessed: Ameri-can Rheumatism Association functional class, joint count, hand radiograph, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, rheuma-toid factor titer, walking time, grip strength, button test, and global self-assessment.Setting: University rheumatology clinic, the rheumatology clinic of a Veterans Administration hospital, and a private rheumatology practice.Patients: The study included 259 patients who met the criteria of the American Rheumatism Association for a diag-nosis of definite or classic rheumatoid arthritis.Interventions: Standard rheumatologic care for patients with rheumatoid arthritis.Measurements and Main Results: Self-report question-naire scores were significantly correlated with the joint count, radiographic score, erythrocyte sedimentation rate, grip strength, button test, walking time, American Rheuma-tism Association functional class, and global self-assessment. Patients were categorized into five questionnaire score cate-gories of 1.00, indicating no dysfunction, and 1.01 to 1.50, 1.51 to 2.00, 2.01 to 3.00, and 3.01 to 4.00, indicating pro-gressive dysfunction. In these five categories, more than ten involved joints were seen in 11%, 37%, 67%, 79%, and 100% of patients, respectively, and erythrocyte sedimenta-tion rates greater than 20 mm/h in 29%, 49%, 64%, 74%, and 85% of patients, respectively. Similar results were seen for other physical and radiographic measures. The question-naire score was as effective in explaining other measures of clinical status as was any other available measure.Conclusions: A simple self-report questionnaire provides information similar to many traditional measures in rheuma-toid arthritis and appears to be an attractive, cost-effective approach to assessing and monitoring quantitatively the status of an individual patient.

Keyword(s): Rheuma

Zurück | Weiter