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Biomedical subjects

F Wolfe

Publications and source records attributed to F Wolfe.

197 records · Page 11Linked to original sources
PubMed1983

Prevalence of primary and secondary fibrositis.

Of 1,473 consecutive new patients seen in an outpatient rheumatology clinic, 3.7% met criteria for "primary fibrositis." Secondary fibrositis was diagnosed in 12.2% of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 15.7% of patients with primary neck and back pain syndromes and 6.7% of patients with osteoarthritis (OA). When conditions presumed to be associated with secondary fibrositis were excluded, primary fibrositis was identified in 55 of 405 patients or 13.6%. Two hundred fifteen or 14.6% of all patients had either primary or secondary fibrositis. Fibrositis may be the most common disorder seen in rheumatic disease practice after OA and RA.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗
PubMed1983

Rheumatoid arthritis and antecedent tonsillectomy.

The association of antecedent tonsillectomy (T) and subsequent development of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) was investigated in a population of 405 patients with RA and 223 controls with low back syndrome (LBS) or osteoarthritis (OA). A similar matched pair analysis of 113 RA patients and 113 community controls was also conducted. All patients were matched for age and sex. All groups were similar in demographic characteristics. T(+) and T(-) RA patients were similar in severity and disease characteristic parameters. No differences were found in the frequency of tonsillectomy in either of the RA or control groups. These data suggest that antecedent tonsillectomy is not causally related to the development of RA.

Aged↗
PubMed1983

Upper and lower airway disease in penicillamine treated patients with rheumatoid arthritis.

Four of 133 patients with rheumatoid arthritis suddenly developed progressive respiratory symptoms while receiving penicillamine therapy. None had previous disease. None of 89 patients treated with gold alone and 0 of 380 not taking gold or penicillamine developed respiratory symptoms. Two of the 4 developed simultaneous severe, unresponsive sinusitis. Lung biopsy demonstrated obliterative bronchiolitis (OB) in 2 patients, fibrosing alveolitis in one. A clinical course characteristic of OB was noted in the 4th patient. Sinus biopsy in 2 demonstrated lymphocytic and plasmacytic mucosal infiltration. The high frequency of OB in penicillamine treated patients and its absence in 469 non penicillamine treated patients suggests the possibility of a causal relationship.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗
PubMed1970

Independently delivered food decelerates fixed-ratio rates.

Following fixed-ratio baselines, the independent delivery of reinforcers was scheduled alone or concomitant with the fixed-ratio schedule for all subjects. Systematic manipulations of either the interreinforcement interval or the ratio size were also made during concomitant schedules. Response rates during the independent delivery of reinforcers did not decelerate until the subjects had been exposed for 50 or more sessions. Rates decelerated after a few sessions when the interreinforcement intervals were less than half of the original value and scheduled along with the ratio dependency. When both schedules were available, reductions in the ratio size resulted in slight deceleration of response rate when compared with the level of deceleration yielded by reductions in the independent reinforcement intervals.

Journal Article↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Evidence of disordered symptom appraisal in fibromyalgia: increased rates of reported comorbidity and comorbidity severity.

OBJECTIVE: Using a large series of unselected consecutive patients, to investigate whether patients with fibromyalgia differ from those with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or osteoarthritis (OA) in the number of reported comorbid conditions and in their perceived importance, and thereby to investigate differences in symptom appraisal and somatization. METHOD: In a clinical care setting, 1,298 patients with fibromyalgia and 2,396 with RA or OA participating in longitudinal data bank research as part of their routine medical care completed questionnaires concerning the presence or absence of 23 comorbid conditions, and then rated the current importance of each condition to them. Additional information concerning psychological factors and disease severity was also obtained. RESULTS: In analyses adjusted for age and sex, patients with fibromyalgia reported more conditions (4.5 vs. 3.1) than those with RA or OA. In 17 of 23 conditions, the condition was more commonly reported in fibromyalgia than in RA or OA. In 20 of the 23 conditions, the importance attached to the conditions by fibromyalgia patients exceeded that of the importance attributed by RA/OA patients. After adjustment for anxiety, statistical differences between the groups for importance was lost for 6 conditions. CONCLUSIONS: Fibromyalgia patients report more medical conditions and report that they are more important to them than do patients with RA or OA. These differences extend to conditions that might be expected to cause symptoms, as well as to those that are usually symptom free. These data suggest that, on average, patients with fibromyalgia appraise medical symptoms and their importance differently from patients with other rheumatic conditions.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Use of combination therapy in the routine care of patients with rheumatoid arthritis: physician and patient surveys.

AIMS: To describe the utilization of combination therapy in the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). METHODS: Review of published articles and abstracts, and patient/physician questionnaire data. RESULTS: Combination therapy was rarely used in the early 1980s and is now (1999) used for about 25% of RA patients in the US. Physician and patient surveys indicate that methotrexate plus hydroxychloroquine is the most commonly used combination in North America, and physician surveys indicate that methotrexate plus sulfasalazine is the most commonly used combination in Europe. Patient questionnaire data indicate that 13.4% of patients in the US take methotrexate and hydroxychloroquine, and between 11% and 15% of patients with recent onset of RA receive treatment with disease-modifying antirheumatic drug (DMARD) combinations. CONCLUSIONS: Combination therapy with agents such as hydroxychloroquine and methotrexate is used in up to 25% of RA patients in the US, but the use of "aggressive combination therapy" is unusual. Whether combination therapy as currently practiced is beneficial remains to be determined.

Antirheumatic Agents↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Why the HAQ-II can be an effective substitute for the HAQ.

The HAQ-II is a psychometrically improved 10-item version of the standard HAQ functional questionnaire. It is simpler and faster to administer and score, thereby reducing patient burden. HAQ-II is better correlated with clinical measures than the HAQ and is sensitive to change. The HAQ-II is suitable for use in the clinic and research studies.

Activities of Daily Living↗
PubMedDate not supplied

A brief introduction to the National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases.

The National Data Bank for Rheumatic Diseases (NDB) is a research data bank with a broad agenda and approach to important clinical, regulatory, epidemiological, safety, effectiveness, outcome and patient care questions that cannot be answered by conventional data banks. It has systematic, ongoing quality control programs that assure high quality data. NDB-developed programs result in very efficient analytic capabilities and rapid publication.

Biomedical Research↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Adverse drug reactions of DMARDs and DC-ARTs in rheumatoid arthritis.

Comprehensive meta-analyses have revealed that survival on DMARD therapy in rheumatoid arthritis can be classified according to several factors: the number of adverse drug reactions, the percentage of drop-outs, and the duration of usage, which is clearly linked to both drug efficacy and drug toxicity. When taking into account of all of these issues, the impact of each DMARD can be scored differently, but certainly the length of time on a given DMARD gives us a conclusive, clinically important overview of its overall efficacy and safety. On these grounds, studies lasting two years or more have demonstrated that, while sulphasalazine can be employed for a median length of 12 months, methotrexate treatment can be maintained for more than 5 consecutive years. Severe and life-threatening complications have been observed with all conventional DMARDs.

Antirheumatic Agents↗