Remission and rheumatoid arthritis: data on patients receiving usual care in twenty-four countries.

Objective: To compare the performance of different definitions of remission in a large multinational cross-sectional cohort of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA).

Methods: The Questionnaires in Standard Monitoring of Patients with RA (QUEST-RA) database, which (as of January 2008) included 5,848 patients receiving usual care at 67 sites in 24 countries, was used for this study. Patients were clinically assessed by rheumatologists and completed a 4-page self-report questionnaire.

Cardiovascular disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis: results from the QUEST-RA study.

Introduction: We analyzed the prevalence of cardiovascular (CV) disease in patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and its association with traditional CV risk factors, clinical features of RA, and the use of disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs) in a multinational cross-sectional cohort of nonselected consecutive outpatients with RA (The Questionnaires in Standard Monitoring of Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Program, or QUEST-RA) who were receiving regular clinical care.

Methods: The study involved a clinical assessment by a rheumatologist and a self-report questionnaire by patients. The clinical assessment included a review of clinical features of RA and exposure to DMARDs over the course of RA.

[Von Willebrand factor in plasma of patients with rheumatoid arthritis and lupus erythematosus].

The plasma levels of von Willebrand factor antigen (vWf:Ag) were evaluated for groups of 31 patients with rheumatoid arthritis and 34 patients with lupus erythematosus. The control group consisted of 34 healthy volunteers. In both groups the levels of vWf:Ag were increased to 243% and 240% respectively.