title: The influence of the definition of patient global assessment in assessment of disease activity according to the Disease Activity Score (DAS28) in rheumatoid arthritis.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Patient global assessment (PGA) is one of the 4 items included in the Disease Activity Score (DAS28) for evaluation of activity of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). We studied the influence of the use of 3 different techniques of PGA on the assessment of disease activity.
  
  
  METHODS
  We evaluated 3 different DAS28 according to the technique of PGA in 108 patients with active RA before and after 12 weeks of etanercept therapy.
  
  
  RESULTS
  The reliability (intraclass coefficient of correlation) between screening and baseline was very high and similar for the 3 DAS28. The percentage of patients in the different states of disease (from remission to higher disease activity) and the sensitivity to change across the 3 DAS28 scales were very similar.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The different techniques of collection of PGA to be included in the DAS calculation yield similar results. However, an accepted, unequivocal technique should be encouraged in order to reduce heterogeneity in scoring DAS among patients with RA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Rheumatology B, Cochin Hospital, Paris; Pfizer SAS France, Paris. France. maxime.dougados@cch.aphp.fr
authors.forename: Maxime
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dougados
authors.forename: Mahaut
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ripert
authors.forename: Pascal
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Hilliquin
authors.forename: Patrice
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Fardellone
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Brocq
authors.forename: Yves
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Brault
authors.forename: Isabelle
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Logeart
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000188:drug therapy; D004185:Disability Evaluation; D000068800:Etanercept; D005260:Female; D006304:Health Status; D006801:Humans; D007074:Immunoglobulin G / Q000627:therapeutic use; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D011788:Quality of Life; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor / Q000627:therapeutic use; D015203:Reproducibility of Results; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents; D007074:Immunoglobulin G; D018124:Receptors, Tumor Necrosis Factor; D000068800:Etanercept