Illness behaviour in patients with arthritis
Article Abstract:
The patient's reaction to arthritis appears to affect the likelihood of the patient's withdrawal from a drug trial. This may need to be taken into account when designing trials and evaluating data. A group of 211 rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients and 107 osteoarthritis (OA) patients filled out a questionnaire measuring attitudes toward illness and illness behavior. Within the group, 108 RA patients and all 107 OA patients were participants in trials of the efficacy and toxicity of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs. RA patients were more worried about their health and absorbed by their illness than OA patients. Forty percent of OA patients and 34% of RA patients withdrew from the trials. Those who withdrew were more preoccupied with disease symptoms. It seems likely that heightened sensitivity to symptoms would result in heightened sensitivity to minor adverse effects of medication. Rheumatologists asked to evaluate what aspects of illness behavior related to RA consistently underestimated the impact of RA on the patient's life.
Publication Name: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0003-4967
Year: 1995
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'Arthritis' in Byzantium (AD 324-1453): unknown information from non-medical literary sources
Article Abstract:
Arthritis and gout were well known in the Byzantine Empire (324-1453 AD) and may have been fairly prevalent. Doctors and historians from the Byzantine era described symptoms that may be classified as rheumatoid arthritis, chronic deformans polyarthritis, and gout. Fourteen of 86 Byzantine emperors may have been afflicted with gout or arthritis. Most of the rulers were not related. The herb Colchicum autumnale, from which the arthritis drug hermodactylus comes, was first used in treating Emperor Leon I (457-474). Jacob Psychristus, his personal physician, introduced the drug's use for treating arthritis. The cause of arthritis and gout among the emperors was explained by excessive eating and drinking of alcohol, stress, heredity, and sexual promiscuity.
Publication Name: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0003-4967
Year: 1995
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Long term prognosis of reactive salmonella arthritis
Article Abstract:
Patients who develop arthritis in association with a Salmonella infection may have more severe joint disease if they are positive for HLA-B27. The medical records of 63 patients who developed Salmonella-associated arthritis were evaluated. Eighty-eight percent of the patients were HLA-B27 positive. Of the patients who later developed iris and tailbone inflammation or long-term arthritis, all were HLA-B27 positive. The erythrocyte sedimentation rates for the HLA-B27 positive patients were significantly higher compared to HLA-B27 negative patients. Twenty patients had no arthritis 11 years after infection.
Publication Name: Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases
Subject: Health
ISSN: 0003-4967
Year: 1997
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