Annals of the rheumatic diseases
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
How do the EQ-5D, SF-6D and the well-being rating scale compare in patients with ankylosing spondylitis?
To compare aspects of validity of EuroQol-5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) and Short-Form-6 Dimensions (SF-6D), two indirect utility instruments, and the well-being rating scale (RS) in ankylosing spondylitis (AS). ⋯ In patients with AS, EQ-5D, SF-6D and the RS correlate equally well with external measures of health, but have different psychometric properties. The SDD is most favourable for the SF-6D, but it discriminates less well between patients with different disease severities. The RS has a poorer ability to detect treatment effects. It is difficult to recommend one of the instruments.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
Cardiovascular outcomes in high risk patients with osteoarthritis treated with ibuprofen, naproxen or lumiracoxib.
Evidence suggests that both selective cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 inhibitors and non-selective non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) increase the risk of cardiovascular events. However, evidence from prospective studies of currently available COX-2 inhibitors and non-selective NSAIDs is lacking in patients at high cardiovascular risk who are taking aspirin. ⋯ These data suggest that ibuprofen may confer an increased risk of thrombotic and CHF events relative to lumiracoxib among aspirin users at high cardiovascular risk. The study indicates that naproxen may be associated with lower risk relative to lumiracoxib among non-aspirin users. This study is subject to inherent limitations, and therefore should be interpreted as a hypothesis-generating study.
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Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Adalimumab alone and in combination with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in clinical practice: the Research in Active Rheumatoid Arthritis (ReAct) trial.
To evaluate the safety and effectiveness of adalimumab alone or in combination with standard disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). ⋯ Considering the limitations of an open-label study, adalimumab alone or in combination with standard DMARDs appeared to be well tolerated and effective in 6610 difficult-to-treat patients with active RA treated in clinical practice.
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To evaluate the validity of using the conventional anteroposterior (AP) radiograph of the knee in order to identify joint space narrowing (JSN) at an early stage of osteoarthritis (OA). ⋯ The standing AP radiograph performed poorly in identifying both the location of JSN in patients with early tibiofemoral OA (especially, lateral OA) and the severity of JSN. The LS radiographs are preferable to standing AP views for the selection of patients for therapeutic trials of structure-modifying OA drugs.