Clin Exp Rheumatol
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The Disease Activity Score including 28 joints (DAS28) and the Clinical Disease Activity Index (CDAI) were developed in order to provide a quantifiable measure of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) activity. The aim of this study was to evaluate the validity and internal consistency reliability for DAS28 and CDAI in patients with RA seen by rheumatologists in usual clinical care. We also compared proposed categories of high, moderate, and low activity and remission according to both scores. ⋯ DAS28 and CDAI are valid and simple acceptable ways to measure RA activity in the clinical practice, but disease activity categorized by these indices differ considerably. Further research is needed to resolve this issue.
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Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs) play different roles in the management of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and ankylosing spondylitis (AS). In RA there is minimal evidence that NSAIDs are able to alter the course of disease or prevent joint destruction and, therefore, they should mostly be used as a short-term bridging therapy. In contrast to RA, in AS NSAIDs are considered as a cornerstone of the treatment not only because of a high symptomatic efficacy, but also because they might even retard osteoproliferation and radiographic progression. Considering younger age of AS patients and lower prevalence of comorbidities, they are probably at lower risk for cardiovascular and gastrointestinal side effects of short- and long-term NSAID therapy in comparison to RA.