Predictors of activity limitation in people with gout: a prospective study

The objective of the study was to determine clinical factors associated with activity limitation and predictors of a change in activity limitation after 1  year in people with gout. Two hundred ninety-five participants with gout (disease duration<  10 years) attended a baseline assessment which included medical and disease-specific history, pain visual analog score and plain radiographs scored for erosion and narrowing. Activity limitation was assessed using the Health Assessment Questionnaire-II (HAQ-II). After 1 year, participants were invited to complete a further HAQ-II; follow-up questionnaires were available for 182 participants. Fully saturated and stepwise regression analyses were used to determine associations between baseline characteristics and HAQ-II at baseline and 1 year, and to determine predictors of worsening HAQ-I I in those with normal baseline scores. Median (range) baseline HAQ-II was 0.20 (0–2.50) and 0.20 (0–2.80) after 1 year of follow-up. Pain score was the strongest independent predictor of baseline HAQ-II, followed by radiographic narrowing score, type 2 diabetes, swollen joint count, BMI, age a nd urate (modelR2 = 0.51,P <  0.001). Baseline HAQ-II was the strongest predictor of change in HAQ-II at 1 year, followed by tender joint count (modelR2 = 0.19,P <  0.001). Of those with HAQ-II scores of 0 at baseline (n = 59, 32% of those with follow-up data), most did not progress (n = 52, 88%); however, baselin...
Source: Clinical Rheumatology - Category: Rheumatology Source Type: research