Rheumatology
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Our aim was to conduct a national audit assessing the impact and experience of early management of inflammatory arthritis by English and Welsh rheumatology units. The audit enables rheumatology services to measure for the first time their performance, patient outcomes and experience, benchmarked to regional and national comparators. ⋯ This audit demonstrates that most RA patients have severe disease at the time of presentation to rheumatology services and that a significant number continue to have high disease activity after 3 months of specialist care. There is a clear need for the National Health Service to develop better systems for capturing, coding and integrating information from outpatient clinics, including measures of patient experience and outcome and measures of ability to work.
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Observational Study
Racial differences in health-related quality of life and functional ability in patients with gout.
To compare the health-related quality of life (HRQOL) and the functional ability by race in patients with gout. ⋯ African Americans with gout have significantly worse HRQOL compared with Caucasians. Further research is necessary in the form of studies targeted at African Americans on how best to improve these outcomes.
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To evaluate volumetric BMD (vBMD), microarchitecture and strength and vertebral fractures (VFs) in primary SS (pSS). ⋯ This study was the first to assess bone microarchitecture in pSS and demonstrated that cortical deterioration is the most important abnormality observed in pSS patients with VFs. This novel finding shows that this compartment contributes to vertebral fragility, suggesting that this non-invasive evaluation may be useful in the clinical practice.
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To determine feasibility of TNF inhibitor (TNFi) dose reduction for severe AS and PsA patients. ⋯ In a real-world setting, 60% of individuals with severe AS and PsA who achieve low disease activity can successfully reduce the dose of TNFi therapy by a third for a mean of 1 year.
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Comparative Study Observational Study
Utility of 18F-fluoro-dexoxyglucose positron emission tomography for the diagnosis of polymyalgia rheumatica: a controlled study.
To compare (18)F-fluoro-dexoxyglucose PET/CT (FDG-PET/CT) findings in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and controls without rheumatologic disease. ⋯ Our results suggest that the number of sites with significant FDG uptake and the uptake score could be relevant criteria for the diagnosis of PMR.