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Rheumatoid ArthritisNCT00056602

Clinically Important Changes in Rheumatoid Arthritis

An observational study of Rheumatoid Arthritis, run by National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) at 1 site in United States.

Completed

Finished. The study has ended and is not enrolling. Results may be posted on the official record.

Official record
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Trial summary

This study will explore how patients with rheumatoid arthritis evaluate, or rate, symptom improvements. Physicians generally evaluate patients health and treatment benefits based on laboratory measures, such as the number of tender or swollen joints, duration of morning stiffness, grip strength, pain severity and… Read more about this study

Who is it for?
Ages 18 to 100 years
Conditions the study is for
Rheumatoid Arthritis
How many people
192 participants
Where
1 siteUnited States
Study dates
18 Mar 2003to 23 Dec 2019
Phase
Observational
Are there results?
None posted in the registry

Key requirements

Who can take part, as listed by the sponsor. Only the study team can confirm whether you are eligible, so take this list to your doctor.

  • Ages 18 to 100 years
  • All sexes
  • No healthy volunteers
  • Adult, Older adult

Who may be able to join

  • Participants will be recruited by physician referral and self-referral.
  • A diagnosis of RA;
  • Age 18 years or older;
  • Onset of arthritis after the age of 16 years;
  • Active arthritis, as evidenced by six or more tender joints

Who cannot join

  • Inability to provide informed consent.
  • Children will necessarily be excluded from this protocol.

Trial locations and contacts

1 site in 1 country.

United States1 site
  • National Institutes of Health Clinical Center, 9000 Rockville Pike

    Bethesda, Maryland, 20892

Other trials in United States

About this study

This study will explore how patients with rheumatoid arthritis evaluate, or rate, symptom improvements. Physicians generally evaluate patients health and treatment benefits based on laboratory measures, such as the number of tender or swollen joints, duration of morning stiffness, grip strength, pain severity and others. Less attention is given to whether these treatment results are meaningful to patients. This study will examine how much of an improvement in pain, stiffness, function, and other symptoms is needed before patients consider the change an important improvement.

Patients 18 years of age or older who were diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis after age 16 and who have active arthritis (6 or more tender joints) may be eligible for this study. Of particular interest are patients beginning treatment with prednisone, methotrexate, leflunomide, infliximab, or etanercept, although patients receiving any type of treatment may be included.

Read more

Participants will be evaluated twice at the NIH Clinical Center, once at the start of the study and again at either 1 month or 4 months later, depending on the individual s treatment regimen. Permission will also be requested to review patients medical records for results of previous blood tests and x-rays. At each NIH visit, patients will undergo the following tests and procedures:

  • Medical history and physical examination, including evaluation of joint swelling and tenderness;
  • Questionnaires about rheumatoid arthritis symptoms;
  • Computer-based exercise to assess preferences for various state-of-health choices;
  • Grip strength test;
  • Walking test on level ground, with or without the use of a cane or walker;
  • Blood test to measure inflammation.

At the second visit, in addition to the above procedures, participants will complete a questionnaire to rate the importance of changes, if any, in pain, morning stiffness, fatigue, joint swelling, functioning, worry, depression, and overall impressions, since the first visit.

Read the detailed description

Proper interpretation of the results of clinical trials requires an assessment of not only the statistical significance of treatment differences but also the clinical importance of such differences. Efforts to define criteria for important improvement in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) activity have thus far not considered the patient's perspective. The aim of this project is to determine if criteria for important improvement in arthritis activity measures can be defined. This will be done by assessing the agreement among patients of judgments of important changes in arthritis activity. We will also determine if preference measures, which are a group of measures of the desirability of a particular state of health, can be used to assess when patients experience an important change in their arthritis.

This prospective longitudinal observational study will measure changes in 12 arthritis activity measures, changes in preference measures, and judgments of the importance of changes in arthritis activity over one to four months in 300 patients with active RA. Consensus among patients regarding the degree of change considered important would allow group criteria for important improvement to be defined that were based on patients' evaluations.

Keywords
Utility, Health Status, Preferences, Response Criteria, Treatment, Rheumatoid Arthritis, RA
Medical subject headings
Arthritis, Rheumatoid

Timeline

From the start of the study to its completion; the mark is today. Estimated dates are the sponsor’s plan.

  1. First posted19 Mar 2003 (estimated)
  2. Study start18 Mar 2003
  3. Primary completion1 Mar 2018
  4. Study completion23 Dec 2019

Resources

More details

For doctors and researchers: how the study is designed, who runs it, and its registry IDs.

Study design
Study type
Observational
Enrolment
192 participants (actual)
IDs, dates and publications
ClinicalTrials.gov ID
NCT00056602
Sponsor's protocol ID
030133
Other IDs
03-AR-0133
Status last verified
Jan 2020
First submitted
19 Mar 2003
Last updated
6 Jan 2020
Results posted
No

Publications

  • Paulus HE, Egger MJ, Ward JR, Williams HJ. Analysis of improvement in individual rheumatoid arthritis patients treated with disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, based on the findings in patients treated with placebo. The Cooperative Systematic Studies of Rheumatic Diseases Group. Arthritis Rheum. 1990 Apr;33(4):477-84. doi: 10.1002/art.1780330403.

    PubMed 2109613
  • van Gestel AM, Prevoo ML, van 't Hof MA, van Rijswijk MH, van de Putte LB, van Riel PL. Development and validation of the European League Against Rheumatism response criteria for rheumatoid arthritis. Comparison with the preliminary American College of Rheumatology and the World Health Organization/International League Against Rheumatism Criteria. Arthritis Rheum. 1996 Jan;39(1):34-40. doi: 10.1002/art.1780390105.

    PubMed 8546736
  • Ward MM. Response criteria and criteria for clinically important improvement: separate and equal? Arthritis Rheum. 2001 Aug;44(8):1728-9. doi: 10.1002/1529-0131(200108)44:83.0.CO;2-J. No abstract available.

    PubMed 11508421

Questions about this trial

What is this clinical trial studying?

An observational study of Rheumatoid Arthritis, run by National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS) at 1 site in United States.

The full registered description is in the About this study section and the official record.

Who may be eligible to take part?

The sponsor lists 5 inclusion and 2 exclusion criteria. Eligibility is decided by the study team after screening, so read the full criteria and contact a listed site.

Is this clinical trial currently recruiting?

The record says: finished, as of the sponsor's last update on 6 Jan 2020. Status can change between updates, so confirm with the study contact before making plans.

Where is the study taking place?

The record lists 1 site in United States. Whether a site is taking part right now should be confirmed with that site. See every site.

What are the possible benefits and risks?

They depend on the study and the treatment, and no study can promise a benefit. The study team explains the known risks during informed consent, before anyone joins; the record itself does not list them.

Are results available for this study?

The study is completed, but results are not available in the source record. That does not mean the treatment did or did not work.

How can a doctor refer a patient or contact the research team?

The record lists no contact. The official record names the sponsor, who can be asked directly. AzTrials does not enrol participants or take referrals.

Where can I read the original study information?

On the ClinicalTrials.gov record for NCT00056602, which also lists 3 linked publications.

Does a listing mean the treatment is approved or proven to work?

No. A listing means the study is registered. It does not show that the treatment is safe, works, or is approved by a regulator.

How often is this information updated?

AzTrials copies changed records from ClinicalTrials.gov every night and reloads the whole registry every week. The sponsor last updated this record on 6 Jan 2020.

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