Zeitschrift für Rheumatologie
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study
Comparison of the effectiveness of medicinal leech and TENS therapy in the treatment of primary osteoarthritis of the knee : A randomized controlled trial.
The aim of this study was to evaluate the effects of leech therapy in the treatment of knee osteoarthritis in terms of duration of effectiveness and symptom relief and to compare these results with transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation (TENS) therapy. ⋯ Leech therapy relieves symptoms in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee and is as effective as TENS therapy in the management of osteoarthritis of the knee. This treatment has the potential of being an additional or alternative therapy for the non-surgical management of osteoarthritis of the knee.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study
[Productivity costs of rheumatoid arthritis in Germany. Cost composition and prediction of main cost components].
Identification of predictors for the productivity cost components: (1) sick leave, and (2) work disability in gainfully employed and (3) impaired household productivity in unemployed patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from the societal perspective. ⋯ Interventions such as reduction in disease progression and control of disease activity, early vocational rehabilitation measures and vocational retraining in patients at risk of quitting working life, and self-management programs to learn coping strategies might decrease future RA-related productivity costs.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Clinical Trial
[Costs and benefits of an education program for patients with ankylosing spondylitis as part of an inpatient rehabilitation programs-study design and first results].
The economic evaluation of a patient education program "ankylosing spondylitis"-based on a randomised controlled prospective multi-center study design-compares program costs and savings in direct and indirect follow-up costs. The collection of health services and cost data was conducted by questioning staff (education programme costs) and patients (follow-up costs). ⋯ Savings in indirect costs (unfitness to work) amount to 2500 euro and thus overcompensate program costs. Currently patient data are verified by sickness fund data and direct follow-up costs and qualitiy of life data are analysed.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical Trial
[Validation of electronic by conventional pain diaries].
A new type of electronic pain diary was validated in an open, randomized, crossover study. The main target variables were the comparison of the correctly realized pain assessment entries as well as the recording of the number of adverse events. Selected for the study were 20 patients, who were either hospitalized, partially-hospitalized or treated on an out-patient basis, with painful spondylogenic spinal syndrome or osteoarthritis of the trunk-proximal large joints. ⋯ Likewise, the functional impairment of the affected joints as well as the swelling decreased markedly. The advantages of the electronic data recording system, i.e. closely-meshed controls can be carried out, transcriptional errors are minimized, data can be processed on-line, no possibility to subsequently change an entry, stand in contrast to the feature that there is no possibility to make free-style entries. The employment of the electronic system in the recording of individual data and subjective data represents a substantial improvement with regard to the quantity and quality of the data.
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Randomized Controlled Trial Multicenter Study Comparative Study Clinical Trial
[Real time collection of pain profile in treatment with ibuprofen].
In an open three-center pilot study, 17 patients suffering from chronic persistent pain syndrome, due to osteoarthritis of the hip and knee or spondylarthrosis, were treated orally with 1800-2400 mg Ibuprofen per day for 3 weeks. The chronic pain syndrome and joint status were assessed by the physician at the beginning, and after 7, 14 and 21 days. Self-assessments were made by the patients six times daily during the full study period by means of battery-driven electronic diaries (E. ⋯ The closely-meshed real-time recording of pain course and other subjective data, such as adverse events or medication, etc., enables the physician to calculate more exactly and reliably improvement rates, as well as to carry out prognostic trend analyses and individual benefit-risk-ratio estimates. By comparing different kinds of data, each entered at the same time, plausibility checks are possible. The procedure presented here is considered to be a new valuable tool for reviewing subjective data from clinical drug trials.