Dail Eireann debate. Written answer 191 - Pharmacy regulations [5945/06].

Objective. To investigate the reproducibility and validity of self-administered joint counts (JC), measuring tenderness, swelling and the combination of both, in a longitudinal study, Methods. At the outpatient department a form self-administered by patients (SAI-form), was used to measure joint involvement. Concurrent joint examinations were performed by an assessor. The JC and scores for groups of joints by assessors were correlated with those by patients. As a retest the form was completed again by the patients within 10 days. Correlations between the JC measured by the test and retest were computed to investigate reproducibility. Results. Correlations between test and retest were high (> 0.7), Correlations between JC and groups of joints measured by the assessors and by the patients were moderate (0.6), Correlations with other disease activity variables did not differ between assessors' and patients' joint examination scores. Conclusion. The patient-administered joint examination was reproducible; however, correlation with the assessors' joint examination was moderate. The value of the self-administered joint count needs further examination and cannot yet replace the assessor's joint examination

A PROSPECTIVE ANALYSIS OF RISK-FACTORS FOR THE DISCONTINUATION OF 2ND-LINE ANTIRHEUMATIC DRUGS

Clinical and laboratory factors influencing the discontinuation of second-line antirheumatic drugs were prospectively studied using survival analysis in a consecutive series of 245 patients with recently diagnosed rheumatoid arthritis. A statistically significant influence of age, sex, serum IgA and HLA-DR3 on the discontinuation rate of chrysotherapy because of toxicity was observed. The discontinuation of sulfasalazine was increased by advanced age and high rank order of prescription. With respect to efficacy, high initial disease activity appeared to predispose to treatment termination of hydroxychloroquine, sulfasalazine and penicillamine. Furthermore, an influence of the rank order of prescription on discontinuation of sulfasalazine therapy because of lack of efficacy was found. Of interest is that discontinuation of hydroxychloroquine therapy because of lack of efficacy occurred less frequently in HLA-DR3-positive than in HLA-DR3-negative patients. Although these prognostic factors are of secondary importance in clinical practice, they may be of significance in the interpretation and comparison of clinical trials