Welsing Paco M J, van Riel Piet L C M
Department of Rheumatology, University Medical Centre Nijmegen, Nijmegen, The Netherlands.
J Rheumatol Suppl. 2004 Mar;69:14-21.
Rheumatoid arthritis is a heterogeneous chronic disease with an unpredictable disease course. To study such a disease, longterm observational studies are needed, with regular assessment of patients using valid and reproducible measures. This article describes the purpose and design of such a study at the Department of Rheumatology, University Medical Centre Nijmegen. Within this inception cohort, several instruments to assess RA were developed and validated, such as the Disease Activity Score, the European League Against Rheumatism response criteria, and a Dutch version of the Health Assessment Questionnaire disability index. These instruments are described and results of studies are discussed concerning prognostic and predictive factors, disease course, and the relationship between the different process and outcome measures.
类风湿性关节炎是一种具有不可预测病程的异质性慢性疾病。为研究此类疾病，需要进行长期观察性研究，并使用有效且可重复的方法对患者进行定期评估。本文描述了奈梅亨大学医学中心风湿病科开展的此类研究的目的和设计。在这个初始队列中，开发并验证了多种评估类风湿性关节炎的工具，如疾病活动评分、欧洲抗风湿病联盟反应标准以及荷兰版健康评估问卷残疾指数。本文介绍了这些工具，并讨论了关于预后和预测因素、疾病病程以及不同过程和结果指标之间关系的研究结果。
