PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Deborah PM Symmons
TI  - Rheumatoid arthritis: assessing disease activity and outcome
AID  - 10.7861/clinmedicine.10-3-248
DP  - 2010 Jun 01
TA  - Clinical Medicine
PG  - 248--251
VI  - 10
IP  - 3
4099  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/10/3/248.short
4100  - http://www.rcpjournals.org/content/10/3/248.full
SO  - Clin Med2010 Jun 01; 10
AB  - The range of treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has increased significantly in recent years, with a parallel improvement in patient outcome. The development and assessment of new therapies and therapeutic strategies relies on the availability of valid and reliable outcome measures to assess the diverse impact of RA on the patient's life. This paper reviews the outcome measures in current use which assess disease activity, joint damage, physical function and health-related quality of life. Some measures have been combined into composite indices which are useful for summarising the patient's current condition and as primary outcome measures for clinical trials. There is still a need for better and more relevant tools especially for imaging multiple joints and for assessing fatigue.