Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and rheumatoid arthritis
| dc.contributor.author | Tarr, Gareth Scott | |
| dc.date.accessioned | 2013-01-23T05:54:09Z | |
| dc.date.available | 2013-01-23T05:54:09Z | |
| dc.date.issued | 2013-01-23 | |
| dc.description.abstract | Objectives: To determine the impact of human immunodeficiency (HIV) infection on rheumatoid arthritis (RA) disease activity. Patients & Methods: Retrospective record review of RA patients who HIV sero-converted, compared to a HIV negative RA control group. DAS28-ESR and -CRP scores were collected at the initial presentation (T0), time when HIV diagnosis made (TH) and the last clinic visit (TL). Results: Forty three HIV positive RA patients were included. At TL disease activity was similar between the groups, despite methotrexate (MTX) being continued in only 11.6% of the HIV group (vs. 83.7% in the control group, p=0.0002). In the HIV group, all clinical parameters improved except the ESR, which accounted for the significantly higher DAS28-ESR compared to the DAS28-CRP at TL (p=0.004). At TL only 13.9% HIV patients had ongoing moderate to high disease activity. Conclusion: Overall disease activity improved with HIV seroconversion in spite of stopping MTX in the majority of patients. The DAS28-ESR overestimated disease activity compared to DAS28-CRP following HIV seroconversion. | en_ZA |
| dc.identifier.uri | http://hdl.handle.net/10539/12285 | |
| dc.language.iso | en | en_ZA |
| dc.subject.mesh | Arthritis, Rheumatoid | |
| dc.subject.mesh | HIV | |
| dc.title | Human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and rheumatoid arthritis | en_ZA |
| dc.type | Thesis (M.Med.(Internal Medicine))--University of the Witwatersrand, Faculty of Health Sciences, 2012 | en_ZA |