Impact and therapy of osteoarthritis: the Arthritis Care OA Nation 2012 survey.

Osteoarthritis (OA) is the fastest growing cause of disability worldwide. The aim of this study was to understand the impact of OA on individuals and to explore current treatment strategies. An online UK-wide survey of people with self-reported OA was conducted, composed of 52 questions exploring the impact of OA, diagnosis and treatment, the role of health professionals and self-management.

Duration of etanercept treatment and reasons for discontinuation in a cohort of juvenile idiopathic arthritis patients.

Objective: Since 2004, juvenile idiopathic arthritis (JIA) patients treated with etanercept and/or MTX have been monitored in the British Society for Paediatric and Adolescent Rheumatology Biologics and New Drug Register. Here, we report the duration of etanercept use for the first 5 years of the register and reasons for discontinuation.

Methods: Disease subtype and activity, comorbidity, treatment efficacy and safety data were recorded.

Why do general practitioners request rheumatoid factor? A study of symptoms, requesting patterns and patient outcome.

Background: To investigate the reasons why general practitioners (GPs) request rheumatoid factor (RF) assays, we studied 200 consecutive requests for RF from general practice in 1995.

Method: By means of an audit questionnaire, we studied 100 negative, 50 positive and 50 borderline RF results and compared these with the presenting symptoms that prompted the request, the GPs' understanding of the significance of the result, the referral intention and behaviour of the GP, and finally, the patient outcome after 5 years.

Results: There was an 80% response rate.