The Assessment of Subclinical Cardiovascular Dysfunction in Treated Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Background And Purpose: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) causes frequently cardiovascular complications, probably determined by early atherosclerosis in connection to chronic systemic inflammation. Purpose of our study was to assess subclinical cardiac and vascular dysfunction, and to evaluate the mechanisms of ventriculo-arterial interaction, in patients with correctly treated RA vs. normal subjects.

Utility of different cardiovascular disease prediction models in rheumatoid arthritis.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis comes with a 30% higher probability for cardiovascular disease than the general population. Current guidelines advocate for early and aggressive primary prevention and treatment of risk factors in high-risk populations but this excess risk is under-addressed in RA in real life. This is mainly due to difficulties met in the correct risk evaluation.

Cardiovascular disease risk scores in the current practice: which to use in rheumatoid arthritis?

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is the highest prevalence disease in the general population (GP) and it accounts for 20 million deaths worldwide each year. Its prevalence is even higher in rheumatoid arthritis. Early detection of subclinical disease is critical and the use of cardiovascular risk prediction models and calculators is widely spread.

Facilitators to implement standards of care for rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis: the EUMUSC.NET project.

Background: Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and osteoarthritis (OA) are important musculoskeletal diseases that the EUMUSC.NET project developed Standards of Care (SOC) for.

Objective: The purpose was to explore factors to enable successful implementation of the SOC for RA and OA.

Rheumatic manifestations in diabetic patients.

Diabetes mellitus (DM), a worldwide high prevalence disease, is associated with a large variety of rheumatic manifestations. For most of these affections, pathophysiologic correlations are not well established. Some of them, such as diabetic cheiroarthropathy, neuropathic arthritis, diabetic amyotrophy, diabetic muscle infraction, are considered intrinsic complications of DM.

Patients' perspectives and motivators to participate in clinical trials with novel therapies for rheumatoid arthritis.

Background And Purposes: Successful advances in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis rely on enrolment of patients into clinical trials with novel agents. The aim of this study was to assess the patients' perspectives and motivators to participate in clinical trials.

Methods: Consecutive patients with rheumatoid arthritis attending three rheumatology departments in Romania underwent structured questionnaire interview regarding the motivation/possible causes of acceptance or drawbacks to participate in a clinical trial.

Evaluation of patients with a recent clinical fracture and osteoporosis, a multidisciplinary approach.

The aetiology of osteoporotic fractures is multifactorial, but little is known about the way to evaluate patients with a recent clinical fracture for the presence of secondary osteoporosis. The purpose of this study was to determine the prevalence of contributors to secondary osteoporosis in patients presenting with a clinical vertebral or non-vertebral fracture. Identifying and correcting these contributors will enhance treatment effect aimed at reducing the risk of subsequent fractures.

Evaluation of a Romanian version of the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) in patients with spondylarthropathies.

Objective: To develop a Romanian version of the Bath Ankylosing Spondylitis Functional Index (BASFI) and to determine its metric properties in patients with spondylarthropathies (SpA).

Methods: A Romanian version of BASFI was obtained after translation, back-translation and pretesting. Altogether 41 SpA patients fulfilling the ESSG criteria were included, 34 of them satisfying the modified New York criteria for ankylosing spondylitis.

Comparison of statistically derived ASAS improvement criteria for ankylosing spondylitis with clinically relevant improvement according to an expert panel.

Objective: To investigate whether the recently developed (statistically derived) "ASsessment in Ankylosing Spondylitis Working Group" improvement criteria (ASAS-IC) for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) reflect clinically relevant improvement according to the opinion of an expert panel.

Methods: The ASAS-IC consist of four domains: physical function, spinal pain, patient global assessment, and inflammation. Scores on these four domains of 55 patients with AS, who had participated in a non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug efficacy trial, were presented to an international expert panel (consisting of patients with AS and members of the ASAS Working Group) in a three round Delphi exercise.