Analysis of the correlation between disease activity score 28 and its ultrasonographic equivalent in rheumatoid arthritis patients

Abstract

Objective: To study the differences between disease activity score 28 (DAS28) index and an ultrasound (US) approach using index echographic disease activity score (ECODAS).Methods: This was a cross-sectional study in patients diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis (RA). De-mographic, clinical, and laboratory data were collected. We created a US index (ECODAS) evaluating the joints with synovitis using gray scale US (GSUS) and power Doppler US (PDUS) and calculated the formula of DAS28 index with both variables substituting tender joint for GSUS and swollen joint for PDUS (ECODAS1) and vice versa (ECODAS2).Results: A total of 58 patients (65.5% women and 34.5% men) were included in the study. There was no significant difference between the 2 US indexes. We obtained a Pearson’s correlation coefficient (Pearson’s r) of 0.56 (p