Author: Erika Mosor
Van Wissen et al. (OP0143-HPR) showed that longstanding, personalised, supervised exercise therapy for people with axSpA and severe functional limitations in daily life delivered by physical therapists was more effective than usual care after 52 weeks of treatment.
Bilberg et al. (OP0173-HPR) found that a 12-week supervised exercise program of high intensity had beneficial effects on body composition and cardiorespiratory fitness without deterioration in disease activity. The intervention group had a 3.54 (95% CI 2.05; 5.00) mL/kg/min (p< 0.001) higher VO 2 max compared to the control group at 3 months. Disease activity assessed with DAS28-ESR did not change and remained low in both groups. These findings indicate that high intensity exercise training is feasible and can be used to improve important cardiovascular risk factors in patients with rheumatoid arthritis with low disease activity.
Larsen et al. (OP0235-HPR) evaluated the effectiveness of nurse-led care employing a treat-to-target strategy for gout management compared to “treatment as usual”. In the nurse-led group, 83% achieved target p-urate levels, compared to 44% in usual care (p<0.0001) two years after diagnosis. Moreover, adherence to urate-lowering therapy was higher (98% vs. 73%) and the 2-year mortality rate was lower (4 vs. 23%) in the nurse-led group. These trends persisted across different patient subgroups.
Zink et al. (OP0259-HPR) conducted a qualitative study to explore how medical tasks in hand osteoarthritis that traditionally belong within the jurisdiction of rheumatologists are increasingly delegated to and adopted by occupational therapists.
Olsen et al. (OP0273-HPR) analysed the results from a randomised controlled non-inferiority multi-centre trial comparing an occupational therapist (OT)-led care model to a rheumatologist-led care model in patients with hand osteoarthritis. Analyses indicated that the OT-led group`s outcomes were non-inferior to those of the rheumatologist-led group in all measured outcomes, with a trend towards slightly better outcomes in the OT-led group.
Jacob et al. (OP0097-HPR) presented the findings of an RCT conducted in Germany to evaluate the effectiveness of reclarit – an internet-based therapeutic digital health application designed for patients with RA to enhance mental quality of life. While no significant differences were observed regarding pain or physical function, psychological health-related quality of life (HRQoL) as assessed by SF-36 Mental Component Score was significantly higher in the intervention group as compared to the control group. Interestingly, the effect was stable at the 6-month follow-up.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Erika Mosor
Erika Mosor serves as the Committee Chair of the EULAR Health Professionals in Rheumatology.
She is an occupational therapist, working as a researcher at the Medical University of Vienna, at the Institute of Outcomes Research in Austria.
Her research focus is on patient engagement in healthcare and research, and to promote the use of standardised core outcome sets including patient-reported outcomes in various disease areas.