title: Rheumatoid arthritis databases in Finland.
abstract: A tradition exists in Finland of longitudinal studies to analyze the long-term outcomes of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), including early studies in the 1970s and 1980s of work disability and premature mortality in patients with RA and follow-up studies of early RA cohorts. This article reviews long-term observations from the Finnish RA Combination Therapy Trial (FIN-RACo), a 2-year multicenter randomized controlled trial which has been continued as a longitudinal observational study after the initial two years. We also describe the Central Finland RA Database, which captures most patients who have been diagnosed with RA since 1980 in a district of a quarter of a million people.
authors.affiliation: Vanderbilt University/ Rheumatology, 203 Oxford House, Nashville, TN 37232-4500, USA. tuulikki.sokka@vanderbilt.edu
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Sokka
mesh_terms: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000401:mortality / Q000628:therapy*; D001688:Biological Products / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D005387:Finland / Q000453:epidemiology; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008137:Longitudinal Studies; D012219:Rheumatology / Q000379:methods*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D001688:Biological Products