QUANTITATION OF THE ACTIVITY OF RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS 5. A METHOD FOR SUMMATION OF THE SYSTEMIC INDICES OF RHEUMATOID ACTIVITY

Journal/Book: Reprinted from The American Journal of the Medical Sciences Vol. 232 No. 3 September 1956. 1956;

Abstract: BY JOHN LANSBURY M.D. PROFESSOR OF CLINICAL MEDICINE From the Department of Medicine Temple University School of Medicine Philadelphia Pennsylvania THIS article brings to a conclusion a series of studies which we believe permit an entirely new approach to the old problem of evaluating the activity spread and deformity in cases of rheumatoid disease. We present our findings as a basis for further study by others emphasizing that we have outlined a method rather than a finished product. We are well aware that our method has been applied to too few cases to permit a conclusive statement to be made as to its ultimate value or as to its range of applicability but this is unavoidable because a thorough test of the method requires a careful analysis of data an about 50 cases proceeding to a fall clinical remission over a period of many months and comparison with a comparable number of cases in which no definite trend for better or worse is apparent. Obviously this is beyond the scope of the average arthritis clinic and will require the pooling of data from numerous clinics over a considerable period of time. We therefore present a working model of our scheme now hoping to interest others in trying it out. About 80% of the data used in this and our previous studies come from our own hospital clinic and Personal files over the last 10 years. A smaller but crucially important series of data come from the American Rheumatism Association's Committee for the Evaluation of New Therapeutic Agents who during 1955 (at our request as Chairman) undertook to test a clinic form for collecting statistically reliable information an rheumatoid patients receiving gold therapy. This quite extensive collective effort produced four well observed remissions as well as valuable data which made possible a statistical validation of daily salicylate intake as a measure of pain and of hemoglobin trends as a valid indicator of progressive recovery. The work of these collaborators is gratefully acknowledged below. However it must be made clear that this paper is not an officially sponsored report either by the above committee or by the American Rheumatism Association. ... ___MH

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