Clinical presentation, treatment and outcome of Takayasu's arteritis in southern Chinese: a multicenter retrospective study.

To study the clinical presentation, treatment and outcome of southern Chinese patients with Takayasu's arteritis (TA). This is a retrospective chart review study of 78 patients managed in 14 public hospitals in Hong Kong between the years 2000 and 2010. Patients were identified from the hospital registry using the ICD-10 diagnostic code of the disease.

Effect of Treat-to-target Strategies Aiming at Remission of Arterial Stiffness in Early Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Randomized Controlled Study.

Objective: To determine the efficacy of 2 tight control treatment strategies aiming at Simplified Disease Activity Score (SDAI) remission (SDAI ≤ 3.3) compared to 28-joint count Disease Activity Score (DAS28) remission (DAS28 < 2.6) in the prevention of arterial stiffness in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Geriatric consultation service in emergency department: how does it work?

Background: Hong Kong is having a significant prevalence of geriatric patients who usually require admission after presentation to the hospital through emergency departments. The geriatric consultation programme 'We Care' aims at lowering acute geriatric medical admission.

Objectives: The study aims at analysing the impact of the geriatric consultation service on the acute medical admission, and to study the characteristics and outcome of geriatric patients.

Testing scaling assumptions, reliability and validity of medical outcomes study short-form 36 health survey in psoriatic arthritis.

Objectives: The Medical Outcome Survey short-form 36 (SF-36) is widely used in studies of PsA. We test the fundamental scaling assumptions for the validity of SF-36 eight scales and two summary scores in PsA.

Methods: We tested the five scaling criteria according to the International Quality of Life Assessment project and the validity of the physical component summary (PCS) and mental component summary (MCS) scores.

Comparison of 4 functional indexes in psoriatic arthritis with axial or peripheral disease subgroups using Rasch analyses.

Objective: Rasch item response theory analysis is essential in evaluating measurement tools in specific disease cohorts. We compared the performance of 4 functional indexes in patients with psoriatic arthritis (PsA) in axial or peripheral disease subgroups.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed in a single center.