title: Databases in routine care: possible and necessary.
abstract: Patient questionnaires are valuable quantitative tools used by rheumatologists to monitor a patient's health status and response to therapy. The health assessment questionnaire (HAQ) and its derivatives have been shown to be the most significant predictors of functional and work disability, costs, joint replacement surgery, and mortality and, generally, at higher levels of significance than joint counts, radiographs, and laboratory tests. Yet, patient questionnaires, which can be used in all rheumatic diseases, are not included in routine care by most rheumatologists. Data that are feasible to collect during clinical care provide the optimal approach to quantitatively assess how patients are doing.
authors.affiliation: New York University School of Medicine, NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases, New York, NY, USA.
authors.forename: Yusuf
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yazici
mesh_terms: D005568:Forms and Records Control; D006305:Health Status Indicators; D006801:Humans; D008499:Medical Records; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D011216:Practice Management, Medical / Q000458:organization & administration; D016032:Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic; D012219:Rheumatology / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires