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 ) .
Comparison of two approaches to measuring change in health status in rheumatoid arthritis: the Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ) and modified HAQ.
As an alternative to the calculation of change scores for health status question naires used in clinical trials or longitudinal studies , transitional questions have been developed for patients to assess changes directly themselves . Here the original Health Assessment Question naire ( HAQ ) is compared with a modified version of the HAQ ( MHAQ ) which contains transition questions used at follow up . These , together with a set of st and ard rheumatological tests , were all completed by 100 patients with rheumatoid arthritis on two occasions , three months apart . Change scores were calculated for the HAQ and for the clinical measures and compared with the MHAQ . The results were strikingly in favour of encouraging patients to assess their own degree of change through the use of transition questions in the MHAQ
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 ) .