Course of patient-reported health outcomes in rheumatoid arthritis: comparison of longitudinal and cross-sectional approaches.
OBJECTIVE
To describe health outcomes reported by patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), i.e., pain, disability and health-related quality of life, as a function of disease duration in a longitudinal approach, and to compare the course of patient-reported health outcomes by a longitudinal versus a cross-sectional approach.


METHODS
Data were collected with 4 series of questionnaires between 1997 and 2002 among patients with RA (maximum number = 882) of varying disease duration. The course of patient-reported health outcomes as a function of disease duration was evaluated using both longitudinal data and cross-sectional data of the first series.


RESULTS
The course of RA shows a different pattern for various health outcomes. We observed similar trends in health outcomes in this large patient sample using the longitudinal and the cross-sectional approach.


CONCLUSIONS
Although longterm consequences of RA are preferably assessed in longer duration followup studies, cross-sectional studies, including patients with a broad range of disease durations, seem to provide fairly reliable estimates of the course of health outcomes.
Rupp
Ines
I
Department of Social Medicine, Academic Medical Center, University of Amsterdam, The Netherlands. i.rupp@amc.uva.nl
Boshuizen
Hendriek C
HC
Roorda
Leo D
LD
Dinant
Huibert J
HJ
Jacobi
Catharina E
CE
van den Bos
Geertrudis
G
D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000534:rehabilitation*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D005260:Female; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D010146:Pain; D017060:Patient Satisfaction; D011788:Quality of Life; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires