معصومه اخلاقی کلهرودی

The severity of the disease is the sum of the disease activity and the damage caused by the disease, and the severity of an organ involvement may change over time. The present study aimed to determine the severity of rheumatoid arthritis and its related factors in the post-diagnosis care period using generalized estimator equations (GEE) model.

In this retrospective cohort study, data were collected from 107 patients with arthritis rheumatoid who were under intensive care in Shariati Hospital, Tehran, Iran, for three years (2015-2017). The severity of the disease was calculated using the Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS28) index, as an important clinical criterion, and was introduced as an ordinal response variable.

The mean age of the patients was 53.6 ± 13.12 years. 84 patients (78.5%) were women and 17 patients (15.9%) had a history of smoking. The severity of the disease had a very slow downward trend over three years, although this process was very weak. The duration of care (P = 0.004) and being men (P = 0.038) were identified as significant related factors with decreased severity of the disease.

According to our findings, controlling the severity of the disease during the care period does not show the desired condition. In addition to continuous care, it is recommended to apply more supervision on patients.

The aim of this study is to investigate the relationship between using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and research performance of faculty members in the educational departments of the Imam Khomeini Hospital in Tehran 2019".

This study is a descriptive- correlation research. Among 311 faculty members, 173 members were selected as the sample from Imam Khomeini Hospital based on Morghan table. The researcher made two questionnaires, the faculty members’ ICT usage and the research performance along with demographic information for both with 0.91 and 0.98 Cronbach’s alpha reliability, respectively. Two methods, descriptive (frequency, percentage) and inferential (Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test, ANOVA, Multiple Linear Regression, Scheffe Post Hoc) statistics used to analyze the data.

The research results showed the faculty members’ used ICT (Information and Communication Technology) for their education and research in average. There is a direct relationship between faculty members’ ICT usage and their research performance; means that the increasing of the ICT usage relates to the research performance. Finally, the results of the impact of   the ICT usage and faculty memberschr('39') educational and research performance based on the demographic variables (age, gender, position, academic background, recruiting status and departments) showed the significant differences.

The ICT usage has a significant impact on the faculty members’ research performance. Therefore, the increasing in ICT usage by the academic members, systematically, increases the faculty members’ academic status.

Disease severity of Rheumatoid Arthritis is a latent concept which should be observed using a measurement tool. This variable plays a significant role in assessing disease status both cross-sectionally and longitudinally. The DAS28 scale is a valid instrument for assessing rheumatoid arthritis severity. This scale consists of two components, namely, the general system (blood sedimentation rate) and joint system (sensitive joints) as two correlated ordinal responses. The purpose of this study was to determine the process and affecting factors of the disease. This study aimed to present a marginalized random-effect model accompanied by the factors influencing these components. This method is used to assess the variables with associations simultaneously.

This study utilized the information of 107 patients with rheumatoid arthritis who referred to Shariati Hospital, Tehran, Iran, during 2016-18. The response variables were the general system and joint system of patients that were classified by rank. A marginalized random-effects model and a joint marginalized random-effects model were used and the best model was selected based on the minimum amount of AIC. Data were analyzed using SAS software (version 9.4). A p-value less than 0.05 was considered statistically significant. Ethics code: IR.USWR.REC.1397.045

In the joint marginalized random-effects model, the effect of time was significant on the rate of blood sedimentation (OR=1.56, 95% CI: 1.27-1.93). Moreover, time (OR=1.85, 95% CI: 1.55-2.21), smoking (OR=0.31, 95% CI: 0.12-0.82), and level of vitamin D (OR=1.0, 95% CI: 1.00-1.02) had a significant effect on sensitive joints. Confidence intervals, standard error, and amount of the AIC in the joint marginalized random-effects model were less than the univariable model.

The results showed that the joint marginalized random-effect model could implement the mean of the marginal in the population as well as the correlation between the observations. Moreover, it was shown that the factors influencing the severity of the disease among the patients under study using the joint marginalized random-effects model included time, smoking, and vitamin D levels.

The severity of the disease is the sum of the disease activity and the damage caused by the disease, and the severity of an organ involvement may change over time. The present study aimed to determine the severity of rheumatoid arthritis and its related factors in the post-diagnosis care period using generalized estimator equations (GEE) model.

In this retrospective cohort study, data were collected from 107 patients with arthritis rheumatoid who were under intensive care in Shariati Hospital, Tehran, Iran, for three years (2015-2017). The severity of the disease was calculated using the Disease Activity Score-28 (DAS28) index, as an important clinical criterion, and was introduced as an ordinal response variable.

The mean age of the patients was 53.6 ± 13.12 years. 84 patients (78.5%) were women and 17 patients (15.9%) had a history of smoking. The severity of the disease had a very slow downward trend over three years, although this process was very weak. The duration of care (P = 0.004) and being men (P = 0.038) were identified as significant related factors with decreased severity of the disease.

According to our findings, controlling the severity of the disease during the care period does not show the desired condition. In addition to continuous care, it is recommended to apply more supervision on patients.

Arthritis Rheumatoid is a progressive Chronic disease requiring constant care, and it is important to consult a physician for change in treatment, to see the progress of treatment, and to control the side effects of the drug. One of the information systems used to record information of diseases is the registry or registry system of the disease, which is a database that contains specific information about those who are suffering from a specific illness. Also it is an ideal tool for clinical study. The first step to design a registry is to identify the information needs of the system. In this study, 40 randomly selected rheumatologists were entered. The data collection tool was a researcher-made questionnaire including general information, clinical involvement, clinical information, laboratory, imaging, hospitalization and death information; its validity was confirmed by experts and its reliability was estimated by test-retest. After reviewing the average scores, the importance of general information, clinical involvement, clinical information, laboratory, radiology, hospitalization and death information were obtained: 92.9%, 84.8%, 86.2%, 81.2%, 97.04%, 87.2% and 81.2%, respectively. Based on the goals that registries follow, they record different data. Identification of information needs through the involvement of physicians as the experts of this field affects the effectiveness and efficiency of the system. The result of this study is the identification of information needs for designing a registration system for patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis. This information is presented in seven categories.