AB0188 DO PATIENT-REPORTED OUTCOMES IN RHEUMATOID ARTHRITIS REFLECT DISEASE ACTIVITY?
Authors: K. Ben Abdelghani, H. Boussaa, S. Miladi, M. Sellami, L. Souabni, S. Kassab, S. Chekili, A. Fazaa, A. Laatar
Journal: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases (2021)

Background: Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) reflect the patient’s perspective and are used in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) routine clinical practice. However, PROs may be associated with other aspects of health, such as psychological distress or comorbidities, which leads to situations of discordance with objective RA assessments. Objectives: The aim of this study was to determine whether PROs were associated with objective assessment of disease activity. Methods: We conducted a cross-sectional study including patients with RA (ACR/EULAR 2010). Demographic data were collected. The following PROs were assessed: number of nocturnal awakenings, morning stiffness duration, estimation of spontaneous pain and fatigue by Visual Analog Scale (VAS), and global patient assessment (GPA). In addition, patients rated their current satisfaction with their disease state according to the Austrian school mark system (PATSAT: 1=excellent, 2=good, 3=average, 4=moderate (fair), 5=unsatisfactory). Disease activity was assessed using the 28-joint disease activity score with erythrocyte sedimentation rate (DAS28 ESR) and C reactive protein (DAS28 CRP). We used Cohen’s kappa (κ) to determine the agreement between PATSAT and DAS28 ESR. The κ result was interpreted as follows: values ≤ 0 as indicating no agreement and 0.01–0.20 as none to slight, 0.21–0.40 as fair, 0.41– 0.60 as moderate, 0.61–0.80 as substantial, and 0.81–1.00 as almost perfect agreement. A p-value inferior to 0.05 was considered significant. Results: We included 54 patients (45 women and nine men) with a mean age of 55±11 years old [23-69]. The mean disease duration was 9.9±5.9 years [0-20]. The mean number of nocturnal awakenings was 1.1 [0-4] and the mean morning stiffness duration was 25.1 minutes [0-120]. The mean GPA was 5.3±2.2 cm [0-10]. The mean pain VAS was 5.4±2.2 cm [0-10] and the mean fatigue VAS was 4±2.5 cm [0-8]. None of the patients described his disease state as ‘excellent’. It was considered ‘good’ in 23.1% of cases, ‘average’ in 36.5% of cases, and ‘moderate’ to ‘unsatisfactory’ in 40.4% of cases. The mean ESR and CRP were 46.3±29.3 mm [5-120] and 15.8 mg/l [0.6-100] respectively. The mean DAS28 ESR was 4.68±1.35 [1.50-7.16] and the mean DAS28 CRP was 3.9±1.1 [1.02-6.05]. A significant positive correlation was noted between both DAS28 ESR and DAS28 CRP and, number of nocturnal awakenings (r=0.385, p=0.013 and r=0.448, p=0.002), morning stiffness duration (r=0.495, p=0.001 and r=0.617, p&lt;0.001), GPA (r=0.485, p&lt;0.001 and r=0.530, p&lt;0.001), and pain VAS (r=0.594, p&lt;0.001 and r=0.598, p&lt;0.001). No correlation was found between the two scores and fatigue VAS. No significant agreement was noted between PATSAT and DAS28 ESR (κ=0.077, p=0.478). Conclusion: PROs showed moderate to strong correlation with disease activity scores. The timely and effective use of PROs could encourage physicians to focus more on the impact of RA on patients and how patients are feeling. This in turn would facilitate shared decision making between patients and physicians. Disclosure of Interests: None declared