title: Incorporating the patient perspective into outcome assessment in rheumatoid arthritis--progress at OMERACT 7.
abstract: The Patient Perspective Workshop at OMERACT 7 addressed the question of assessing the outcomes of intervention in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) from the perspective of those who experience the disease. A particular emphasis at this workshop was placed on fatigue, but other areas included well-being, real-time assessment, patient priorities, and needs in early and late disease. Through a series of overview presentations, discussion groups, and plenary sessions, workshop participants (who included 19 patients) clarified what is known and what are the outstanding issues for future research. The importance of further work on clarifying the validity of fatigue measurements in RA has been confirmed, and with at least one suitable instrument available there will be strong pressure to include fatigue in a redefined core set of outcome measures in RA. In the other 4 areas covered there are important issues that can be addressed by enquiry and experiment and that together provide a challenging research agenda. At the final plenary session the OMERACT conference endorsed, by a large majority, the proposal that fatigue may warrant consideration for inclusion in the OMERACT core set for RA.
authors.affiliation: University of Bristol Academic Rheumatology Unit, Bristol Royal Infirmary, Bristol, UK.
authors.forename: John R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Kirwan
authors.forename: Sarah E
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Hewlett
authors.forename: Turid
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Heiberg
authors.forename: Rod A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Hughes
authors.forename: Maggie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Carr
authors.forename: Maggie
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hehir
authors.forename: Tore K
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Kvien
authors.forename: Patricia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Minnock
authors.forename: Stanton P
authors.initials: SP
authors.lastname: Newman
authors.forename: Enid M
authors.initials: EM
authors.lastname: Quest
authors.forename: Erik
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Taal
authors.forename: Janney
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wale
mesh_terms: D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications / Q000523:psychology* / Q000628:therapy*; D005221:Fatigue / Q000209:etiology; D006801:Humans; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D016896:Treatment Outcome