Development of Preliminary Remission Criteria for Gout Using Delphi and 1000Minds Consensus Exercises.

OBJECTIVE: To establish consensus for potential remission criteria to use in clinical trials of gout. METHODS: Experts (n = 88) in gout from multiple countries were invited to participate in a web-based questionnaire study. Three rounds of Delphi consensus exercises were conducted using SurveyMonkey, followed by a discrete-choice experiment using 1000Minds software. The exercises focused on identifying domains, definitions for each domain, and the timeframe over which remission should be defined. RESULTS: There were 49 respondents (56% response) to the initial survey, with subsequent response rates ranging from 57% to 90%. Consensus was reached for the inclusion of serum urate (98% agreement), flares (96%), tophi (92%), pain (83%), and patient global assessment of disease activity (93%) as measurement domains in remission criteria. Consensus was also reached for domain definitions, including serum urate (<0.36 mm), pain (<2 on a 10-point scale), and patient global assessment (<2 on a 10-point scale), all of which should be measured at least twice over a set time interval. Consensus was not achieved in the Delphi exercise for the timeframe for remission, with equal responses for 6 months (51%) and 1 year (49%). In the discrete-choice experiment, there was a preference towards 12 months as a timeframe for remission. CONCLUSION: These consensus exercises have identified domains and provisional definitions for gout remission criteria. Based on the results of these exercises, preliminary remission criteria are proposed with domains of serum urate, acute flares, tophus, pain, and patient global assessment. These preliminary criteria now require testing in clinical data sets.

Diagnostic Arthrocentesis for Suspicion of Gout Is Safe and Well Tolerated.

OBJECTIVE: To determine the frequency of adverse events of diagnostic arthrocentesis in patients with possible gout. METHODS: Consecutive patients underwent arthrocentesis and were evaluated at 6 weeks to determine adverse events. The 95% CI were obtained by bootstrapping. RESULTS: Arthrocentesis was performed in 910 patients, and 887 (97.5%) were evaluated for adverse events. Any adverse event was observed in 12 participants (1.4%, 95% CI 0.6-2.1). There was 1 case (0.1%, 95% CI 0-0.34) of septic arthritis. CONCLUSIONS: Diagnostic arthrocentesis is associated with a low frequency of adverse events. Septic arthritis rarely occurs.

Comparison of expectations of physicians and patients with rheumatoid arthritis for rheumatology clinic visits: a pilot, multicenter, international study.

AIM: To describe and compare expectations of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and their physicians with regard to what is most important to achieve during a rheumatology clinic visit. METHODS: Subjects were RA patients enrolled in four centers from China, one from Japan and one from the USA, and rheumatologists at those centers. The questionnaires were provided at clinics and patients were asked to list their three top priorities for the rheumatology clinic visit. Physicians were contacted separately and asked to give three general expectations, not for specific visits. We classified clinical expectations into a series of 24 terms for patients and 17 for physicians. We compared physicians' to patients' responses, compared expectations among centers in China, Japan and the USA, and evaluated relationships between patients' responses and age, gender, nationality, disease duration and DAS-28 (Disease Activity Score-28). RESULTS: Patients' clinical expectations for visits focused primarily on control of pain (63.7%), improvement of function (49.3%) and discussion of effects of medication (38.1%). Physicians also included control of pain (59.5%), but also emphasized inquiry about drug side-effects (47.8%) and objective assessment of disease activity (41.4%). We found no differences related to patients' gender, disease duration and DAS-28, but there were some differences related to age and nationality. CONCLUSION: We found some agreement and some discordance of clinical expectations between RA patients and physicians. There appear to be some different expectations in different countries. Findings from this pilot survey may help physicians consider patients' expectations in planning rheumatology clinic visits and may lead to further hypothesis-driven studies.

A literature review of the epidemiology and treatment of acute gout.

BACKGROUND: Gout is the most common cause of inflammatory arthritis in men aged >40 years and is frequently encountered in clinical practice. OBJECTIVE: The goal of this article was to review the published literature on the epidemiology, treatment, and estimated burden of illness of acute gout. METHODS: Articles on gout published in English between 1980 and June 2002 were identified through a MEDLINE search. Relevant clinical studies and review articles were found using the text- and keyword-search term gout alone and in combination with epidemiology, prevalence, incidence, complications, outcome, quality of life, economics, cost, prevention or drug therapy. The reference lists of identified articles, especially review articles, were checked for any additional studies that might have been missed in the original MEDLINE search. RESULTS: The epidemiology of gout in various geographic regions has been well documented. Data suggest that environmental, racial, and hereditary factors may influence the development of gout, and that the prevalence of gout appears to be on the rise worldwide. Evidence from well-designed clinical studies evaluating drug therapies for gout is limited. Therapies for acute gout include corticotropin, corticosteroids, colchicine or, more often, nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), which have shown comparable efficacy. A recent study suggests that etoricoxib, a new cyclooxygenase-2-selective inhibitor, may be as effective as and better tolerated than traditional NSAIDs in the treatment of gout. Urate-lowering therapy, prophylactic colchicine, and low-dose NSAIDs are used for the long-term prophylaxis of gout. However, all acute and prophylactic therapies are associated with adverse events. Using an economic model for gout, the annual direct burden of illness for new cases of acute gout can be estimated at 27,378,494 US dollars in the United States. CONCLUSIONS: Gout is an increasingly prevalent condition worldwide and creates a heavy economic burden. Available treatments are generally effective; however, they are not devoid of adverse events. Well-designed, long-term, controlled clinical trials evaluating the comparative efficacy and tolerability of treatments for gout are needed.