Annals of the rheumatic diseases
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
Costs of rheumatoid arthritis in Germany: a micro-costing approach based on healthcare payer's data sources.
To develop a systematic set of German cost data in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) based solely on valid healthcare payer's cost data sources. ⋯ Micro-costing based on healthcare payer's data provides a relatively conservative albeit highly accurate estimate of costs in RA. Both RA related and non-RA related costs must be taken into account. In gainfully employed patients and in patients who receive RA related retirement payments productivity costs exceed direct costs.
-
Randomized Controlled Trial Clinical Trial
Suprascapular nerve block (using bupivacaine and methylprednisolone acetate) in chronic shoulder pain.
Shoulder pain from inflammatory arthritis and/or degenerative disease is a common cause of morbidity in the community. It is difficult to treat and there are limited data on the efficacy of most interventions. Suprascapular nerve block has shown promise in limited trials in reducing shoulder pain. There have been no large randomised placebo controlled trials examining the efficacy of suprascapular nerve block for shoulder pain in arthritis and/or degenerative disease using pain and disability end points. ⋯ Suprascapular nerve block is a safe and efficacious treatment for the treatment of shoulder pain in degenerative disease and/or arthritis. It improves pain, disability, and range of movement at the shoulder compared with placebo. It is a useful adjunct treatment for the practising clinician to assist in the management of a difficult and common clinical problem.
-
To study the levels of procalcitonin (PCT) in various inflammatory states seen in an internal medicine department and to evaluate the possible discriminative role of PCT in differentiating bacterial infection from other inflammatory processes. ⋯ PCT levels only rose significantly during bacterial infections. In this study PCT levels >1.2 ng/ml were always evidence of bacterial infection and the cue for starting antibiotic treatment.