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Determinants of patient and physician global assessment of disease activity and their discrepancies amongst South Africans with Rheumatoid Arthritis

Background: Patient and physician global assessments (PGA and PhGA) play a crucial role in treatment decisions, yet discordance in these assessments is common. Factors influencing PGA and PhGA and discordance in South African (SA) RA patients remain poorly understood. Methods: This cross-sectional s...

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Main Author: Didi, Sariu Ali
Other Authors: Hodkinson, Bridget
Format: Thesis
Language:English
Published: Department of Medicine 2025
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access_status_str Open Access
author Didi, Sariu Ali
author2 Hodkinson, Bridget
author_browse Didi, Sariu Ali
Hodkinson, Bridget
author_facet Hodkinson, Bridget
Didi, Sariu Ali
author_sort Didi, Sariu Ali
collection Thesis
description Background: Patient and physician global assessments (PGA and PhGA) play a crucial role in treatment decisions, yet discordance in these assessments is common. Factors influencing PGA and PhGA and discordance in South African (SA) RA patients remain poorly understood. Methods: This cross-sectional study included consenting adults with RA attending a tertiary hospital. Demographic, disease-specific, and patient-reported outcome data were collected. A discordance score was calculated by subtracting the PhGA score from the PGA score, and discordance was defined as PGA-PhGA ≥ 2.5. Determinants of PGA, PhGA, and determinants were explored using correlation analyses, linear regression, and logistic regression. Results: Of 550 patients, most were female (84.9%), with a mean (SD) age and disease duration of 55.8 (12.9) and 11.5 (9.7) years. Discordance was seen in 27.5%. Pain severity significantly influenced PGA, while tender and swollen joint counts predominantly influenced PhGA. A large portion of the variance in PGA and PhGA (62.0 % and 50.3% respectively) was unexplained. Patients with discordance reported higher pain scores, and problems with usual activities but had lower swollen joint counts and were more likely to be in remission or low disease activity than concordant patients. Conclusion: Discordance in patient-physician assessments exists in a considerable proportion of SA RA patients. Pain severity and functional limitations greatly influence patient perceptions. Addressing pain and activity limitations could help reduce discordance, optimize disease management, and foster shared decision-making. Further longitudinal and qualitative research is essential for a more comprehensive understanding of our RA patients' perspectives.
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license_str Not specified — see source repository
provenance_str_mv Harvested via OAI-PMH from UCTD — University of Cape Town Open Access Repository
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spelling oai:open.uct.ac.za:11427/41520 Determinants of patient and physician global assessment of disease activity and their discrepancies amongst South Africans with Rheumatoid Arthritis Didi, Sariu Ali Hodkinson, Bridget medicine Background: Patient and physician global assessments (PGA and PhGA) play a crucial role in treatment decisions, yet discordance in these assessments is common. Factors influencing PGA and PhGA and discordance in South African (SA) RA patients remain poorly understood. Methods: This cross-sectional study included consenting adults with RA attending a tertiary hospital. Demographic, disease-specific, and patient-reported outcome data were collected. A discordance score was calculated by subtracting the PhGA score from the PGA score, and discordance was defined as PGA-PhGA ≥ 2.5. Determinants of PGA, PhGA, and determinants were explored using correlation analyses, linear regression, and logistic regression. Results: Of 550 patients, most were female (84.9%), with a mean (SD) age and disease duration of 55.8 (12.9) and 11.5 (9.7) years. Discordance was seen in 27.5%. Pain severity significantly influenced PGA, while tender and swollen joint counts predominantly influenced PhGA. A large portion of the variance in PGA and PhGA (62.0 % and 50.3% respectively) was unexplained. Patients with discordance reported higher pain scores, and problems with usual activities but had lower swollen joint counts and were more likely to be in remission or low disease activity than concordant patients. Conclusion: Discordance in patient-physician assessments exists in a considerable proportion of SA RA patients. Pain severity and functional limitations greatly influence patient perceptions. Addressing pain and activity limitations could help reduce discordance, optimize disease management, and foster shared decision-making. Further longitudinal and qualitative research is essential for a more comprehensive understanding of our RA patients' perspectives. 2025-07-03T12:43:46Z 2025-07-03T12:43:46Z 2025 2025-07-03T12:34:29Z Thesis / Dissertation Masters MPhil http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41520 eng application/pdf Department of Medicine Faculty of Health Sciences University of Cape Town
spellingShingle medicine
Didi, Sariu Ali
Determinants of patient and physician global assessment of disease activity and their discrepancies amongst South Africans with Rheumatoid Arthritis
thesis_degree_str Master's
title Determinants of patient and physician global assessment of disease activity and their discrepancies amongst South Africans with Rheumatoid Arthritis
title_full Determinants of patient and physician global assessment of disease activity and their discrepancies amongst South Africans with Rheumatoid Arthritis
title_fullStr Determinants of patient and physician global assessment of disease activity and their discrepancies amongst South Africans with Rheumatoid Arthritis
title_full_unstemmed Determinants of patient and physician global assessment of disease activity and their discrepancies amongst South Africans with Rheumatoid Arthritis
title_short Determinants of patient and physician global assessment of disease activity and their discrepancies amongst South Africans with Rheumatoid Arthritis
title_sort determinants of patient and physician global assessment of disease activity and their discrepancies amongst south africans with rheumatoid arthritis
topic medicine
url http://hdl.handle.net/11427/41520
work_keys_str_mv AT didisariuali determinantsofpatientandphysicianglobalassessmentofdiseaseactivityandtheirdiscrepanciesamongstsouthafricanswithrheumatoidarthritis