University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications
UMMS Affiliation
Department of Orthopedics and Physical Rehabilitation; Department of Medicine, Division of Rheumatology
Publication Date
2017-02-01
Document Type
Article
Disciplines
Musculoskeletal Diseases | Orthopedics | Rheumatology
Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Characterized by sudden onset of severe joint pain, swelling, redness, and tenderness to touch, gout 'flare ups' have a substantial impact on quality of life (QoL). This research employed a patient-centered approach to explore the symptoms and impacts of gout, and assess the content validity of existing patient-reported outcomes (PROs).
METHODS: Qualitative interviews were conducted with 30 US gout patients (non-tophaceous: n = 20, tophaceous: n = 10) and five expert rheumatologists. Each interview included both concept elicitation (CE) questioning to learn about the patient experience and cognitive debriefing to assess the content validity of three PRO instruments (HAQ-DI, GAQ, and TIQ-20). Nine of the patients provided further real-time qualitative data through a smart phone application. All qualitative data were subject to thematic analysis using Atlas.ti. Two patient advisors and three expert clinicians were engaged as advisors at key stages throughout the research.
RESULTS: Interview and real-time data identified the same core symptoms and proximal impact concepts. Severe pain (typically in joints of extremities) was described as the cardinal symptom, often accompanied by swelling, redness, heat, sensitivity to touch, and stiffness. Domains of QoL impacted included physical functioning, sleep, daily activities, and work. The PRO instruments were generally well-understood by patients, but each included items with questionable relevance to at least some of the sample, dependent on the specific joints affected.
CONCLUSIONS: Gout patients experience severe pain in affected joints, resulting in substantial limitations in physical functioning. Both the HAQ-DI and the TIQ-20 are useful for specific research purposes in the gout population, although modifications are recommended.
Keywords
gout, quality of life, outcomes research
Rights and Permissions
Copyright The Author(s) 2016. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com.
DOI of Published Version
10.1007/s40271-016-0184-x
Source
Patient. 2017 Feb;10(1):65-79. doi: 10.1007/s40271-016-0184-x. Link to article on publisher's site.
Related Resources
Journal/Book/Conference Title
The patient
PubMed ID
27384670
Repository Citation
Tatlock, Sophi; Rudell, Katja; Panter, Charlotte; Arbuckle, Rob; Harrold, Leslie R.; Taylor, William J.; and Symonds, Tara, "What Outcomes are Important for Gout Patients? In-Depth Qualitative Research into the Gout Patient Experience to Determine Optimal Endpoints for Evaluating Therapeutic Interventions" (2017). University of Massachusetts Medical School Faculty Publications. 1071.
https://escholarship.umassmed.edu/faculty_pubs/1071
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License