Which patients improve the most after arthritis rehabilitation? A study of predictors in patients with inflamatory arthritis in northern Europe, the STAR-ETIC collaboration

OBJECTIVE: To study health-related quality of life (HRQoL) in arthritis rehabilitation performed by multidisciplinary teams in patients with chronic inflammatory arthritis. Predictors of change in health-related quality of life and the proportion of patients with clinical improvement were investigated. DESIGN: Multicentre prospective observational study in 4 European countries. METHODS: HRQoL was measured with the European Quality 5 Dimensions (EQ-5D) and the Short Form 36 Health Survey (SF-36) in 731 patients who underwent multidisciplinary rehabilitation. Potential predictors were physical functioning (Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ)), self-efficacy (Arthritis Self Efficacy Scale (ASES)), psychological health (Hopkins Symptom Check List (HSCL-25)), pain/fatigue (numeric rating scales (NRS)), age, sex, diagnosis, comorbidity, education, clinical setting and change of medication during rehabilitation. Analysis of covariance (ANCOVA) was used to assess for potential predictors and interactions. The minimal important differences for HRQoL were analysed. RESULTS: Reporting worse function (b 0.05, p = 0.01), less psychological well-being (b 0.09, p = 0.000), and experiencing more pain (b 0.03, p = 0.000) or fatigue (b 0.02, p = 0.000) at admission predicted improved HRQoL. Change in medication during rehabilitation (b 0.08, p = 0.013) was associated with greater improvement in HRQoL. These EQ-5D findings were supported by SF-36 findings. Positive minimal important differences were noted in 46% (EQ-5D) and 23-47% (SF-36 subscales) of the patients. CONCLUSION: Patients with more severe symptoms experienced the largest gain in HRQoL post-intervention. The results of this study are of value for selecting the right patients for rheumatological team rehabilitation. © 2014 The AuthorsThe European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR) has financially supported the STAR-ETIC by EULAR grant CLI022. This work was supported by Lund University Faculty of Medicine and the Capio’s Research Foundation. The Norwegian arm of this study, the SPOR project, was financed by Extra-stiftelsen Helse og Rehabilitering in Norway.</p

Finalisation and validation of the rheumatoid arthritis impact of disease score, a patient-derived composite measure of impact of rheumatoid arthritis: a EULAR initiative

Objective: A patient-derived composite measure of the impact of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), the rheumatoid arthritis impact of disease (RAID) score, takes into account pain, functional capacity, fatigue, physical and emotional wellbeing, quality of sleep and coping. The objectives were to finalise the RAID and examine its psychometric properties. Methods: An international multicentre cross-sectional and longitudinal study of consecutive RA patients from 12 European countries was conducted to examine the psychometric properties of the different combinations of instruments that might be included within the RAID combinations scale (numeric rating scales (NRS) or various questionnaires). Construct validity was assessed cross-sectionally by Spearman correlation, reliability by intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC) in 50 stable patients, and sensitivity to change by standardised response means (SRM) in 88 patients whose treatment was intensified. Results: 570 patients (79% women, mean±SD age 56±13 years, disease duration 12.5±10.3 years, disease activity score (DAS28) 4.1±1.6) participated in the validation study. NRS questions performed as well as longer combinations of questionnaires: the final RAID score is composed of seven NRS questions. The final RAID correlated strongly with patient global (R=0.76) and significantly also with other outcomes (DAS28 R=0.69, short form 36 physical −0.59 and mental −0.55, p<0.0001 for all). Reliability was high (ICC 0.90; 95% CI 0.84 to 0.94) and sensitivity to change was good (SRM 0.98 (0.96 to 1.00) compared with DAS28 SRM 1.06 (1.01 to 1.11)). Conclusion: The RAID score is a patient-derived composite score assessing the seven most important domains of impact of RA. This score is now validated; sensitivity to change should be further examined in larger studies