Patient-reported outcomes (PROs) aid in rheumatoid arthritis (RA) management, but it is not well understood which measures would be most relevant to the rheumatologists for making treatment decisions. We recruited rheumatologists nationally to participate in moderated structured group teleconference discussions using the nominal group technique. Participants in each group generated lists of the elements from patient’s history and signs that they use to make treatment recommendations for RA. Each participant then selected the three most important elements from the generated list. The results of each group were then combined and summarized. Twenty-five rheumatologists participated in 4 groups (group size ranged from 4 to 8) and 150 available ranking votes across all groups. The statements generated across the 4 groups were categorized into 13 topics (including symptoms, physical function, comorbidities, social aspects, physical findings, response to treatment, treatment adherence, pain management, side effects, tests, access to care, contraception, and organ involvement), 10 of which received ranking votes. Symptoms received the highest ranking (46% of votes), followed by physical function (16%), and physical findings (13%). Among the unranked topics, social aspects had the highest number of statements (8 statements). Rheumatologists highly valued patient-reported RA symptoms and physical function to inform their treatment decisions, even above objective data such as physical findings and test results. These results can guide the selection of validated PRO measures to assess these domains to inform the clinical care of patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

中文翻译：

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在评估类风湿性关节炎患者时，哪些患者报告的结果领域对风湿病学家很重要？

患者报告的结果 (PRO) 有助于类风湿性关节炎 (RA) 的管理，但尚不清楚哪些措施与风湿病学家做出治疗决策最相关。我们在全国范围内招募风湿病专家，使用名义小组技术参加有主持的结构化小组电话会议讨论。每组的参与者根据患者的病史和体征生成要素列表，用于提出 RA 的治疗建议。然后，每个参与者从生成的列表中选择三个最重要的元素。然后将各组的结果进行合并和总结。25 名风湿病专家参加了 4 个小组（小组规模从 4 人到 8 人不等），所有小组都有 150 名可用的排名投票。4 组的陈述分为 13 个主题（包括症状、身体机能、合并症、社会方面、体检结果、治疗反应、治疗依从性、疼痛管理、副作用、测试、获得护理、避孕和器官）参与），其中 10 个获得排名投票。症状排名最高（46％的选票），其次是身体功能（16％）和身体检查结果（13％）。在未排名的主题中，社会方面的陈述数量最多（8 个陈述）。风湿病学家高度重视患者报告的 RA 症状和身体功能，以指导他们的治疗决策，甚至高于身体检查结果和测试结果等客观数据。这些结果可以指导选择经过验证的 PRO 措施来评估这些领域，从而为类风湿性关节炎患者的临床护理提供信息。