DAS28 and Rheumatoid Arthritis: The Need for Standardization

Disease Activity Score in 28 Joints (DAS28) scoring in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is now recommended as a basis for clinical decisions about treatment initiation and alteration. The British Society of Rheumatology suggests that most RA patients should have a DAS28 assessment at every clinic visit, to...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Musculoskeletal care 2011-12, Vol.9 (4), p.222-227
Main Authors: Porter, Duncan, Gadsby, Kate, Thompson, Paul, White, Jo, McClinton, Catherine, Oliver, Sue
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Arthritis, Rheumatoid - blood
Arthritis, Rheumatoid - diagnosis
Arthritis, Rheumatoid - physiopathology
Arthrography - standards
assessment
C-Reactive Protein - analysis
DAS
DAS28
Disease Progression
Drug Monitoring - methods
Drug Monitoring - standards
Edema - diagnosis
Female
Health Status
Humans
joint score
Joints - pathology
Joints - physiopathology
Male
Reproducibility of Results
rheumatoid arthritis
Severity of Illness Index
Sickness Impact Profile
standardization
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Disease Activity Score in 28 Joints (DAS28) scoring in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is now recommended as a basis for clinical decisions about treatment initiation and alteration. The British Society of Rheumatology suggests that most RA patients should have a DAS28 assessment at every clinic visit, to monitor disease activity and the impact of therapy. Establishing an accurate baseline assessment of DAS28, with regular re‐evaluation, is considered crucial, so that progress towards a defined target of remission (or low disease activity) can be measured. The Treat‐to‐Target initiative, launched in March 2010, is now impacting on clinical practice throughout the UK and Europe. One of its key recommendations is that patients should be regularly monitored using validated composite measures of disease activity that include joint assessments. DAS28 is recommended as one of the most useful of these methods but, although it is becoming more widely adopted and training is ongoing, supported by materials produced by the European League Against Rheumatism (EULAR), the variability inherent in the four components of DAS28 means that standardization of practice methods is now an important issue. This short report details some of the pitfalls that can occur when applying DAS28 in clinical practice and suggests some workable solutions to enable departments to set up their own standard operating procedure Copyright © 2011 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
ISSN:1478-2189
1557-0681
DOI:10.1002/msc.218