Outcomes of home-based rehabilitation provided by primary therapists for patients with rheumatoid arthritis: pilot study.

Purpose: To evaluate the outcomes of patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) receiving treatment from a rheumatology-trained primary therapist and to assess the feasibility of the research protocol.Method: The experimental (E) group received treatment from a primary therapist in addition to their overall medical care. The usual care (UC) group continued receiving usual medical care. The first 10 patients completed the Health Assessment Questionnaire, a pain visual analogue scale, and the Arthritis Community Research and Evaluation Unit RA Knowledge Questionnaire. Patients were classified as clinical responders if they showed 20% improvement in two-thirds of core measures between baseline and 6 months. Baseline assessment was performed immediately prior to randomization. All patients completed the EuroQol and a monthly health resource use questionnaire.Results: A trend towards improvement was found in the E group (n = 11) in all clinical measures at discharge (approximately 6 weeks from baseline) and 6 months from baseline. In contrast, the UC group (n = 13) showed a slight deterioration in pain (at 6 weeks) and in disease-specific knowledge (at 6 months). Three of six patients in the E group and one of four patients in the UC group met the criteria of clinical responders.Conclusions: The study suggests an improvement trend in patient outcomes after treatment from a primary therapist and that the study protocol is feasible for a full-scale clinical trial. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
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