title: ESPOIR and the French database management: what have we learned from the first years of follow-up?
abstract: ESPOIR (Etude et Suivi des POlyarthrites Indifférenciées Récentes) is a multicentre national cohort sponsored by the French Society for Rheumatology. The patients had early arthritis (<6-month disease duration), had a certain/probable clinical diagnosis of RA or undifferentiated arthritis potentially becoming RA and were DMARDs or glucocorticoids naïve. ESPOIR is a cohort of early arthritis, highly enriched for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients, since in patients followed for 5 years more than 90% met ACR/EULAR criteria for RA. A total of 813 patients were enrolled between December 2002 and March 2005 in 14 academic regional centres with the participation of a network of private rheumatologists. Today, 104 clinical research projects have been selected by the scientific committee of the cohort. The projects focus on data from the first 5 years of follow-up. Many studies are in progress, and 54 original articles have been published. The research projects cover a wide range of topics, including environmental factors, diagnosis, evolution, and prognosis, evaluation of disease, imaging, genetics, biomarkers, medical economics and therapeutic strategies.
authors.affiliation: Département Rhumatologie, Hôpital Lapeyronie, Université Montpellier I, Montpellier, France. b-combe@chu-montpellier.fr.
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Combe
mesh_terms: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000175:diagnosis / Q000453:epidemiology / Q000628:therapy*; D016208:Databases, Factual; D018450:Disease Progression; D042241:Early Diagnosis; D005602:France / Q000453:epidemiology; D006801:Humans; D011237:Predictive Value of Tests; D012219:Rheumatology / Q000379:methods*; D018570:Risk Assessment; D012307:Risk Factors; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D013997:Time Factors; D016896:Treatment Outcome
chemical_list: D018501:Antirheumatic Agents