Severity and Diurnal Improvement of Morning Stiffness Independently Associate with Tenosynovitis in Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis.

ABSTRACT:

Background and objectives

Although morning stiffness has long been recognized as a characteristic feature of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), it is no more included in the 2010 ACR/EULAR Classification Criteria or in the current major instruments for evaluating disease activity of RA. In this cross-sectional study, we aimed to determine the independent value and the optimal measurement of morning stiffness by clarifying the associations between morning stiffness and synovial inflammation.

Patients and methods

We enrolled 76 consecutive RA patients who underwent musculoskeletal ultrasound examination and agreed to participate in the study. In addition to asking the duration of morning stiffness, we asked patients to complete a diagram which represents the time course of their morni

SUBMITTER: Kobayashi Y 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5113064 | biostudies-literature | 2016

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature