title: Outcomes research in rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: Although rheumatoid arthritis causes significant disability for more than 1 million individuals in the United States, prior research regarding surgical treatment options has been limited by study sample size, study design, and methods of comparison. Furthermore, there is wide variation in the referral pattern for hand surgery consideration and type of surgical treatment of rheumatoid hand disease, yet the reasons for these differences are unclear. This review describes the role of outcomes research in rheumatoid hand disease by summarizing variations in surgical treatment, detailing current outcome assessment strategies, and offering potential strategies for designing future studies for rheumatoid hand disease.
authors.affiliation: Section of Plastic Surgery, Department of Surgery, The University of Michigan Medical School, 1500 East Medical Center Drive, 2130 Taubman Center, SPC 5340, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-5340, USA.
authors.forename: Jennifer F
authors.initials: JF
authors.lastname: Waljee
authors.forename: Kevin C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Chung
mesh_terms: D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000150:complications / Q000601:surgery*; D006227:Hand Deformities, Acquired / Q000209:etiology / Q000601:surgery*; D006801:Humans; D017063:Outcome Assessment, Health Care; D012107:Research Design; D014481:United States