Rheumatology function tests: Quantitative physical measures to monitor morbidity and predict mortality in patients with rheumatic diseases

T. Pincus

Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Department of Medicine, Vanderbilt University Medical Center, Nashville, Tennessee, USA.

ABSTRACT
Physical measures of functional status, including grip strength, walking time and button test, had been used in rheumatology clinical trials for many years, but have been supplanted in recent years by patient questionnaires. While patient questionnaire measures involve minimum professional time and have greater predictive value than physical measures for severe long-term outcomes of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), physical measures bypass socio-cultural differences which may be seen in use of patient questionnaires. Inter-observer and intra-observer reliabilities of these physical measures were excellent when administered according to a standard protocol for instructions. Physical measures of function also were significant predictors of mortality in two cohorts of patients with RA, one monitored between 1973 and 1988, and a second between 1985 and 1990.

Key words
Rheumatoid arthritis, physical measures, grip strength, walking time, button test.

Supported in part by grants from the Arthritis Foundation and the Jack C. Massey Foundation.
Please address correspondence to: Theodore Pincus, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology and Immunology, Vanderbilt University School of Medicine, 203 Oxford House, Box 5, Nashville, TN 37232-4500, USA.
E-mail: t.pincus@vanderbilt.edu

Clin Exp Rheumatol 2005; 23 (suppl. 39): S85-S89.
© CLINICAL AND EXPERIMENTAL RHEUMATOLOGY 2005.