Patanè Massimo, Carmisciano Luca, Hysa Elvis, Gotelli Emanuele, Sulli Alberto, Paolino Sabrina, Smith Vanessa, Cutolo Maurizio
Internal Medicine Unit, Azienda Sanitaria Locale AL Ospedale Santo Spirito, Casale Monferrato Alessandria, Italy.
Department of Health Sciences, University of Genova, Genova, Italy.
Joint Bone Spine. 2022 Jan;89(1):105272. doi: 10.1016/j.jbspin.2021.105272. Epub 2021 Sep 15.
The Hand Test System (HTS) is an engineered-sensorized glove that has been originally developed in the neuroscientific field for the evaluation of hand fingers' speed movement. This pilot-study aimed to evaluate the reproducibility of HTS analysis in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), correlating glove-derived parameters with clinical disease activity indexes, self-reported disability-related questionnaires and hand strength.
Fifty-five RA patients and fifty age and sex matched healthy controls (HCs) performed HTS analysis. The glove recognized the touch speed between the finger tips during standard sequences of movements, providing three quantitative parameters: touch duration (TD), inter-tapping interval (ITI) and movement rate (MR). These variables were correlated with Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), Health Assessment Questionnaire-Disease Index (HAQ-DI), Hand Disability Index (HDI), Hand Grip Strength (HGS), DAS28-CRP, CDAI and SDAI.
Intraclass correlation coefficient was 0.93 (CI: 0.92, 0.95). RA patients showed significantly slower TD, ITI and MR than HCs, for all classes of disease activity (P<0.001). All HTS parameters correlated significantly with HAQ, HAQ-DI, HDI, HGS, DAS28-CRP, SDAI, CDAI (between P<0.05 and P<0.001). Of note, also RA patients in clinical remission showed a significantly higher TD compared with HCs (P<0.001).
HTS seems a new safe and fast tool to evaluate rheumatoid hand's functionality, measuring the speed of finger movements. Furthermore, the HTS parameters significantly correlate with quality of life, disease activity, hand strength and perceived hand disability, evaluating also potential hand motor impairment in RA clinical remission.
手部测试系统（HTS）是一种经过工程设计的传感手套，最初是在神经科学领域开发的，用于评估手指的快速运动。这项初步研究旨在评估HTS分析在类风湿性关节炎（RA）中的可重复性，将手套得出的参数与临床疾病活动指标、自我报告的残疾相关问卷以及手部力量进行关联。
55名RA患者和50名年龄及性别匹配的健康对照者（HCs）进行了HTS分析。该手套在标准运动序列中识别指尖之间的触摸速度，提供三个定量参数：触摸持续时间（TD）、敲击间隔（ITI）和运动速率（MR）。这些变量与健康评估问卷（HAQ）、健康评估问卷疾病指数（HAQ-DI）、手部残疾指数（HDI）、握力（HGS）、DAS28-CRP、CDAI和SDAI相关。
组内相关系数为0.93（CI：0.92，0.95）。对于所有疾病活动类别，RA患者的TD、ITI和MR均显著慢于HCs（P<0.001）。所有HTS参数均与HAQ、HAQ-DI、HDI、HGS、DAS28-CRP、SDAI、CDAI显著相关（P值在<0.05和<0.001之间）。值得注意的是，处于临床缓解期的RA患者与HCs相比，TD也显著更高（P<0.001）。
HTS似乎是一种评估类风湿性手部功能的新型安全且快速的工具，可测量手指运动速度。此外，HTS参数与生活质量、疾病活动、手部力量和感知到的手部残疾显著相关，还可评估RA临床缓解期潜在的手部运动障碍。
