Arthritis care & research
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Arthritis care & research · Apr 2013
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudyAssociation of severity of coexisting patellofemoral disease with increased impairments and functional limitations in patients with knee osteoarthritis.
To evaluate the association between severity of coexisting patellofemoral (PF) disease with lower extremity impairments and functional limitations in patients with tibiofemoral (TF) osteoarthritis (OA). ⋯ It appears that knees with more severe coexisting PF disease demonstrate features distinct from those observed in TFOA in isolation or in combination with mild PF disease. Treatment strategies targeting the PF joint may be warranted to mitigate the specific lower extremity impairments and functional problems present in this patient population.
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Arthritis care & research · Apr 2013
Comparative StudyFoot and ankle kinematics in rheumatoid arthritis: influence of foot and ankle joint and leg tendon pathologies.
From early onset of the disease, patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) experience walking impairments. Pathologic effects of RA on foot and ankle structures have been studied clinically, but little is known as to how they relate to kinematic changes during gait. The aim of this study was to explore the relationship between clinically observed pathologies of foot and ankle joints and leg tendons and the corresponding gait kinematics. ⋯ Our findings suggest moderate to strong relationships between foot and ankle gait kinematics and structural pathologies.
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Arthritis care & research · Apr 2013
Comparative StudyGout-related health care utilization in US emergency departments, 2006 through 2008.
To characterize gout-related emergency department (ED) utilization using a nationally representative sample and to examine factors associated with the frequency and charges of gout-related ED visits. ⋯ Gout accounts for a substantial proportion of ED visits, leading to significant health care charges. Effective strategies to reduce gout burden in EDs could potentially benefit by targeting groups characterized by factors demonstrated to be related to a higher ED utilization in gout as identified by our study.