RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Initial validation and results of the Symptoms in Persons At Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis (SPARRA) questionnaire: a EULAR project
JF RMD Open
JO RMD Open
FD EULAR
SP e000641
DO 10.1136/rmdopen-2017-000641
VO 4
IS 1
A1 Marian H van Beers-Tas
A1 Marieke M ter Wee
A1 Lilian H van Tuyl
A1 Bertha Maat
A1 Wijnanda Hoogland
A1 Aase H Hensvold
A1 Anca I Catrina
A1 Erika Mosor
A1 Tanja A Stamm
A1 Axel Finckh
A1 Delphine S Courvoisier
A1 Andrew Filer
A1 Ilfita Sahbudin
A1 Rebecca J Stack
A1 Karim Raza
A1 Dirkjan van Schaardenburg
YR 2018
UL http://rmdopen.bmj.com/content/4/1/e000641.abstract
AB Objectives To describe the development and assess the psychometric properties of the novel ‘Symptoms in Persons At Risk of Rheumatoid Arthritis’ (SPARRA) questionnaire in individuals at risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) and to quantify their symptoms.Methods The questionnaire items were derived from a qualitative study in patients with seropositive arthralgia. The questionnaire was administered to 219 individuals at risk of RA on the basis of symptoms or autoantibody positivity: 74% rheumatoid factor and/or anticitrullinated protein antibodies positive, 26% seronegative. Validity, reliability and responsiveness were assessed. Eighteen first degree relatives (FDR) of patients with RA were used for comparison.Results Face and content validity were high. The test-retest showed good agreement and reliability (1 week and 6 months). Overall, construct validity was low to moderate, with higher values for concurrent validity, suggesting that some questions reflect symptom content not captured with regular Visual Analogue Scale pain/well-being. Responsiveness was low (small subgroup). Finally, the burden of symptoms in both seronegative and seropositive at risk individuals was high, with pain, stiffness and fatigue being the most common ones with a major impact on daily functioning. The FDR cohort (mostly healthy individuals) showed a lower burden of symptoms; however, the distribution of symptoms was similar.Conclusions The SPARRA questionnaire has good psychometric properties and can add information to currently available clinical measures in individuals at risk of RA. The studied group had a high burden and impact of symptoms. Future studies should evaluate whether SPARRA data can improve the prediction of RA in at risk individuals.