title: [Evaluation of a 3-week hospital rehabilitation of patients with rheumatoid arthritis].
abstract: Essential for evaluation of disease activity and functional disability in rheumatoid arthritis is to monitor the disease course by the outcome measures, which show quality of care i.e. efficacy of drugs, physical therapy and rehabilitation. To assess disease activity in 21 days hospital rehabilitation we chose Disease Activity Score (DAS). Functional disability was measured by Health Assessment Questionnary (HAQ). The measures were noted at arrival and admission and we found statistically significant decrease in values of DAS (t = 5,836; p < 0.01) and HAQ (h = 16.26; p < 0.05), but without clinically valid criteria for improvement. The conclusions are: these measures are not appropriate for assessment of efficacy for a short therm hospital rehabilitation, because DAS is measure which primary shows activity of inflammatory process, and HAQ as a long term measure is not sensitive enough for the assessment of short term rehabilitation.
authors.affiliation: Specijalna bolnica za medicinsku rehabilitaciju Krapinske Toplice.
authors.forename: Rajko
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Pavlović
authors.forename: Marica
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Nadih
mesh_terms: D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D026741:Physical Therapy Modalities; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires