Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score trajectories and prognostic factors for functional decline: A 3-year follow-up study.

Background: Hip osteoarthritis (OA) can cause pain, restricted locomotor activity and functional impairments but it remains difficult to predict functional decline over time.

Objectives: The aims of this study were to identify functional decline trajectories in people with hip OA using the Hip disability and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (HOOS) domains and to determine radiological and gait predictors of typical trajectories.

Methods: Consecutive people with hip OA with no indication for total hip replacement at baseline were included.

The Flare-OA-16 questionnaire measuring flare in knee and hip osteoarthritis in the patient perspective: scale reduction and validation using a Rasch model.

Objectives: The recent Flare-OA questionnaire measuring flare in knee and hip osteoarthritis (OA) (19 items in 5 domains, numerical rating scale) showed good psychometric properties along with classical test theory. This study aimed to determine its scaling properties by Rasch analysis and to present evidence for a refined scalable version.

Study Design And Setting: The participants were 398 subjects (mean age 64 years [standard deviation = 8.

Building a composite score for patient self-report of flare in osteoarthritis: a comparison of methods with the Flare-OA-16 questionnaire.

Objectives: This study aims to compare methods of constructing a composite score for the Flare-OA-16 self-reported questionnaire.

Methods: Participants with knee and hip osteoarthritis (OA) completed a validated 16-item questionnaire assessing five domains of flare. Three estimation methods were compared: (i) second-order confirmatory factor analysis (CFA); (ii) logistic regression, according to the participant's self-report of flare (yes/no); and (iii) Rasch method, with weighted scores in each dimension.

Predictive Factors of Giant Cell Arteritis in Polymyalgia Rheumatica Patients.

Polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) is an inflammatory rheumatism of the shoulder and pelvic girdles. In 16 to 21% of cases, PMR is associated with giant cell arteritis (GCA) that can lead to severe vascular complications. Ruling out GCA in patients with PMR is currently a critical challenge for clinicians.

Gait analysis dataset of healthy volunteers and patients before and 6 months after total hip arthroplasty.

Clinical gait analysis is a promising approach for quantifying gait deviations and assessing the impairments altering gait in patients with osteoarthritis. There is a lack of consensus on the identification of kinematic outcomes that could be used for the diagnosis and follow up in patients. The proposed dataset has been established on 80 asymptomatic participants and 106 patients with unilateral hip osteoarthritis before and 6 months after arthroplasty.

Optimization of dual energy computed tomography post-processing to reduce lower limb artifacts in gout.

Background: In gout, several types of dual-energy computed tomography (DECT) artifacts have been described (nail bed, skin, beam hardening, submillimeter and vascular artifacts), which can lead to overdiagnosis. The objective of this study was to determine the optimal DECT settings for post processing in order to reduce the frequency of some common artifacts in patients with suspected gout.

Methods: Seventy-seven patients hospitalized for suspected gout (feet/ankles and/or knees) who received a DECT imaging were included (final diagnosis of 43 gout and 34 other rheumatic disorders).

Dynamic global sagittal alignment in patients with lumbar spinal stenosis: Analysis of the effects of decompression surgery on gait adaptations.

Background: Lumbar spinal stenosis (LSS) leads patients to adapt their posture and walking parameters. Pelvic retroversion might be a compensation mechanism of pain. Pelvic and lower limbs compensations during gait are still not precisely understood, as well as the effect of a surgical decompression on them.

The frequency of occult solid malignancy in patients with polymyalgia rheumatica-like symptoms.

Aims: We aim to evaluate the clinical usefulness of systematic screening for occult cancer in patients with polymyalgia rheumatic (PMR)-like symptoms in real-life practice.

Methods: All patients seen by rheumatologists in Burgundy, France, between March 2016 and December 2018 for new-onset PMR that met the 2012 ACR/EULAR classification criteria were prospectively included. Patients underwent systematic screening including determination of the erythrocyte sedimentation rate, serum C-reactive protein levels, thoracic, abdominal and pelvic computed tomography (CT-TAP) and, in men, serum prostate-specific antigen.

A single nucleotide polymorphism of IL6-receptor is associated with response to tocilizumab in rheumatoid arthritis patients.

Biological disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs (bDMARDs) have changed care of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, bDMARDs are costly, can lead to serious infections, and induce a sustained remission in only 30% of RA patients. In this study, we sought to determine if the clinical response to treatment with Tocilizumab (TCZ), an IL-6 inhibitor, varied with genetic background.

Role of dual-energy CT in the diagnosis and follow-up of gout: systematic analysis of the literature.

The aim of this systematic review was to determine the potential role of dual-energy CT in the diagnosis and follow-up of gout with regard to the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) filter. A systematic analysis of the literature was conducted using the MEDLINE and Cochrane databases and published abstracts of international congresses, according to the criteria of the OMERACT filter: feasibility, reproducibility, validity versus laboratory (serum urate, MSU synovial fluid aspirate) and other imaging modalities for gout, and its sensitivity to change in patients on urate lowering therapy (ULT). Thirty-two articles were found representing a total of 1502 patients.

Factors influencing the use of tocilizumab as monotherapy in patients with rheumatoid arthritis in a real-life setting: results at 1 year of the ACT-SOLO study.

Introduction: Using a biologic disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (bDMARD) as monotherapy in clinical practice for patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is common and recognised by health authorities although current guidelines recommend to combine them with conventional synthetic (cs)DMARDs. This study mainly aimed to search for real-life factors influencing the use of tocilizumab as MONO or in combination (COMBO).

Methods: In this non-interventional, prospective, national, multicentre study, data were collected every 3 months over a 12-month period in RA patients starting tocilizumab.

Patient-perceived flares in rheumatoid arthritis: A sub-analysis of the STRASS treatment tapering strategy trial.

Objectives: Patient's and physician's perspective can differ in rheumatoid arthritis (RA). The aim was to define the concept of patient-reported flares.

Methods: Post-hoc analysis of a randomized controlled trial of a step-down strategy in RA patients treated with anti-TNF, in DAS28-remission for ≥6 months, randomized to either "spacing" or "maintaining" anti-TNF.

Validation of FLARE-RA, a Self-Administered Tool to Detect Recent or Current Rheumatoid Arthritis Flare.

Objective: To validate the measurement properties and the detection performance of the FLARE-RA questionnaire in a longitudinal prospective study.

Methods: To validate the FLARE-RA self-administered questionnaire, we conducted a prospective trial in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients to document: 1) content and construct validity by factor analysis, convergent validity by Pearson's correlation with routine assessment of patient index data (Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3 [RAPID-3] questionnaire), RA Impact of Disease (RAID) score, Disease Activity Score in 28 joints (DAS28), and Health Assessment Questionnaire (HAQ), 2) reliability (intraclass correlation coefficient [ICC] and Bland-Altman plot), and 3) feasibility of use. Patients were examined and questionnaires were collected at baseline and 3 months, and every week in between for RAPID-3.

Röttinger approach with dual-mobility cup to improve functional recovery in hip osteoarthritis patients: biomechanical and clinical follow-up.

Purpose: We assumed that the combination of dual-mobility total hip arthroplasty (THA) using the minimally-invasive Röttinger anterolateral approach could guarantee hip stability with faster functional recovery. We objectively analyzed functional improvement after dual-mobility THA by quantitative gait analysis.

Methods: We compared the results achieved following two different surgical approaches: Röttinger's versus Moore's approach (posterolateral approach).

Involvement and prognosis value of CD8(+) T cells in giant cell arteritis.

CD8(+) T cells participate in the pathogenesis of some vasculitides. However, little is known about their role in Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA). This study was conducted to investigate CD8(+) T cell involvement in the pathogenesis of GCA.

Reliability, validity and feasibility of nail ultrasonography in psoriatic arthritis.

Objective: To determine the feasibility, reliability and validity of nails ultrasonography in psoriatic arthritis as an outcome measure.

Methods: Pilot prospective single-centre study of eight ultrasonography parameters in B mode and power Doppler concerning the distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint, the matrix, the bed and nail plate. Intra-observer and inter-observer reliability was evaluated for the seven quantitative parameters (ICC and kappa).

Response to tocilizumab in rheumatoid arthritis is not influenced by the body mass index of the patient.

Objective: To assess the relationship between the body mass index (BMI) and the efficacy of tocilizumab (TCZ) in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: We conducted a retrospective study in 222 patients with RA followed by 5 centers. The European League Against Rheumatism response was evaluated at 6 months.

Impact of repeated measures of joint space width on the sample size calculation: An application to hip osteoarthritis.

Objective: The aims of the study were to investigate the impact of aggregation of repeated readings (a) on minimising variability of joint space width (JSW) measurements based on calculation of the smallest detectable difference (SDD) and (b) on sample size calculation in a hip OA randomized controlled trial (RCT).

Methods: (a) Post-hoc analysis of 50 radiographs from a hip OA RCT (ECHODIAH). JSW reliability was calculated by the SDD through the aggregation of repeated readings of hip OA radiographs by an experienced rheumatologist.