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The following is a summary of “Optical spectral transmission to monitor disease activity in arthritis patients: longitudinal follow-up comparison with clinical parameters,” published in the January 2025 issue of Rheumatology by Triantafyllias et al.
Researchers conducted a retrospective study to examine the longitudinal associations of optical spectral transmission (OST) with clinical inflammatory arthritis activity markers.
They performed OST measurements on 1,312 wrist and finger joints of 60 patients at 2-time intervals. Clinical and laboratory exams were done at each point, and OST changes were compared with Disease Activity Score 28 (DAS28) and swollen joint counts (SJC). OST’s diagnostic performance was assessed with receiver operating characteristics (ROC) against a control group of 2,508 joints from 114 healthy subjects. Correlations between OST, clinical and laboratory parameters, and patient characteristics were analyzed.
The results showed that mean OST scores were significantly higher in the inflammatory arthritis group compared to the control group (P < 0.001). OST correlated significantly with DAS28, SJC, and TJC at both time points (all; P < 0.05). Longitudinal changes in OST (ΔOST) were significantly associated with ΔDAS28 (r = 0.377; P = 0.004) and ΔSJC (r = 0.488; P < 0.001). The baseline ROC had an area under the curve of 0.781 (95%CI 0.82–0.94).
Investigators found that OST reliably assessed disease activity and correlated with arthritis activity markers. This highlighted its promising potential for monitoring inflammatory arthritis.
Source: academic.oup.com/rheumatology/advance-article-abstract/doi/10.1093/rheumatology/keaf007/7942513