A Proposed Composite Disease Activity Score for Extra-articular Manifestations in Rheumatoid Arthritis
OC20-OC23
Correspondence
Prasanta Padhan,
Department of Rheumatology, Kalinga Institue of Medical Sciences, KIIT University, Bhubaneswar, Odisha, India.
E-mail: prasanta.padhan@gmail.com
Introduction: In Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), extra-articular disease is single most important cause of morbidity and mortality. Although DAS-28 score is used for disease assessment in RA, extra-articular manifestations are not included in the same. Therefore an initial attempt was done for development of a composite Disease Assessment Score for Extra-Articular Manifestations (DAS-EAM) based on rheumatologists consensus.
Aim: The study was an initial attempt to make a composite disease assessment score for EAMs in RA.
Materials and Methods: A hospital based cross-sectional study done on 226 RA patients with various clinical parameters with waiting scores were included to develop the DAS-EAM score. This was compared with DAS-28 and Physician’s Global Assessment score and other demographic parameters and serology {RF, Anti-Cyclic Citrullinated Peptide (Anti-CCP)}. A Pearson’s correlation coefficient and Kappa agreement were calculated to find out the correlation as well as agreement between DAS-EAM score, Physician’s Global Assessment score and DAS-28 scores.
Results: Patient’s age was significantly different among the DAS-EAM score (p=0.001). Other parameters such as gender, duration of disease and serology were not significantly associated with DAS-EAM score. There was no agreement between DAS-28 and DAS EAM score.
Conclusion: Despite the major limitations such as single centered cross-sectional study design with small sample size, this is an initial attempt for development of a composite tool for extra-articular disease in RA.