Conclusion Based on this literature review , the disease-specificHAQ and the generic SF-36 can currently be most confidently recommended to measure PF in RA for most research purpose s. The HAQ , however , was frequently associated with considerable ceiling effects while the SF-36 has limited content coverage .
Background The aim of this study was to systematic ally review the content validity and measurement properties of all physical function ( PF ) scales which are currently vali date d for use with patients with rheumatoid arthritis ( RA ) .
A comparative study of patient-reported functional outcomes in acute rheumatoid arthritis.
OBJECTIVE To assess the performance of the Barthel Index ( BI ) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis ( RA ) in the acute care hospital , as compared to the Stanford Health Assessment Question naire ( HAQ ) and the Hannover Functional Question naire ( Funktionsfragebogen Hannover , FFbH ) . METHODS A prospect i ve study of 97 patients with RA admitted to an acute rheumatology hospital with new onset or acute flare of RA . Patients were required to self-complete the BI , the HAQ , and the FFbH.  Disease activity was measured using the Disease Activity Score ( DAS28 ) . RESULTS Seventy-eight percent of patients were female , average age was 61.5 ( SD 12.5 ) years , and 72.2 % were rheumatoid factor-positive . The median HAQ was 1.29 ( range 0 - 3 ) , median FFbH was 50 % ( 6 - 100 % ) , and median BI was 95 ( 0 - 100 ) , and distribution was highly skewed . All measures of physical functioning were significantly correlated with each other and with the DAS28 ; however , the BI discriminated poorly between low and high disease activity . CONCLUSION The BI is not a useful instrument to assess physical functioning in patients with acute symptoms of RA , but may have a role in assessing patients with comorbidities and in assessing nursing care needs in the acute care hospital
Conclusion Based on this literature review , the disease-specificHAQ and the generic SF-36 can currently be most confidently recommended to measure PF in RA for most research purpose s. The HAQ , however , was frequently associated with considerable ceiling effects while the SF-36 has limited content coverage .
Background The aim of this study was to systematic ally review the content validity and measurement properties of all physical function ( PF ) scales which are currently vali date d for use with patients with rheumatoid arthritis ( RA ) .