Course of Grip Force Impairment in Patients With Early Rheumatoid Arthritis Over the First Five Years After Diagnosis.

Objective: Objective measures of function are important in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The objective of this study was to investigate grip strength in patients with early RA.

Methods: An inception cohort of 225 patients with early RA was followed in accordance with a structured protocol.

Early rheumatoid arthritis and body composition.

Objectives: RA is associated with joint destruction and cardiovascular diseases (CVDs). Possible predictors for CVD are early changes in body composition. We therefore evaluated whether lean mass of arms and legs (LMAL), total body fat mass (BFM) or truncal fat distribution (TFD) are altered early in RA, and if so, which factors are associated.

Bone mineral density in the hand as a predictor for mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Objectives: BMD in the hand, as evaluated by digital X-ray radiogrammetry (DXR), has been suggested to be a predictor for joint damage in RA. A predictor for long-term prognosis might also predict increased mortality in RA. The aim of the present study was to evaluate BMD in the hand as a predictor for all-cause mortality.

Prediction of mortality in rheumatoid arthritis based on disease activity markers.

Objective: The risks and predictors for mortality in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) were examined in a cohort of 152 consecutive outpatients (119 women, 33 men) seen in a 2 month period.

Methods: We evaluated 4 measures of disease activity: erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), physician and patient global assessment of disease activity, and the Ritchie Articular Index (RAI) as mortality predictors, adjusting for disease severity, treatment, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) comorbidity.

Results: During followup from 1978 through 1998, 111 patients (86 women, 25 men) died, and only one was lost to followup.