Translating outcomes measurement in experimental therapeutics of systemic rheumatic disease to patient care.

This article discusses the clinimetrics of disease activity and organ damage, and response criteria using systemic lupus erythematosus as a paradigm. Similar considerations apply to the other systemic rheumatic illnesses. Clinically relevant and psychometrically tested measures of disease states aid the conduct of clinical studies and trials that are more rigorous, efficient, and relevant to patients' concerns. These same measures used in clinical trials will likely improve clinical outcomes if they are used in the monitoring and titration of therapy in patients who have these disorders. For this use to really occur, clinical trials will have to demonstrate treatments that alter these therapies in a meaningful way and the measures or modifications of them will need to meet the desiderata of techniques that can be used in practice.