We have developed a new 40-item SLEQOL in English and showed that it is valid for use in SLE patients in Singapore. It offers better content validity and responsiveness to change than the SF-36.

High-dose glucocorticoid may be associated with an increased risk of PCP infection in patients with autoimmune diseases.

Patients with systemic lupus erythematosus often assess their disease activity differently from their physicians. We studied the factors associated with this discordance. The data provided by 534 systemic lupus erythematosus patients were analyzed. We compared the physician and patient assessments of lupus activity on a visual-assessment scale from the same visit. We collected clinical data and scores from MOS 36-Item Short-Form Health Survey, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Quality-of-Life Questionnaire, Rheumatology Attitudes Index, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus Disease Activity Index, and revised Systemic Lupus Activity Measure. Patients tended to score their disease activity higher than do their physicians, when these factors were present: poorer general health assessment, presence of thrombocytopenia, hypertension and urinary sediments, and difficulty in carrying groceries. Physicians tended to score the disease activity higher than do the patients in these circumstances proteinuria, hemolysis, use of azathioprine or cyclophosphamide, tiredness, photosensitivity, higher revised Systemic Lupus Activity Measure score, casturia, and patient report of being more easily ill than are other patients. There was only moderate correlation between the discordance in the baseline and the subsequent visits. The physician assessment of disease activity at baseline correlated better with an objective measure of disease activity (revised Systemic Lupus Activity Measure) in the subsequent visit than the patient assessment. In conclusion, discordance in the perception of disease activity between patients and physicians may be amenable to intervention.

Objectives To study clinical and patient reported outcomes for the Virtual Monitoring Clinic (VMC), a remote nurse‐led telemonitoring service for monitoring Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) patients treated with disease‐modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). Methods Patients with stable RA enrolled in the VMC were followed up prospectively. The primary outcomes evaluated at 1‐year follow‐up were: Disease Activity Score‐28 (DAS28), Routine Assessment of Patient Index Data 3 (RAPID3), and patient satisfaction assessed using an 11‐point Likert scale. Results Of the 251 patients enrolled, 186 completed 1‐year of follow‐up. There was a 2.3% (n = 450) reduction in the annual workload from the rheumatology specialist outpatient clinic as a result of the VMC. Statistically significant improvement was seen in the mean patient satisfaction score (7.70‐8.16, P ≤ 0.001), with 61.5% of patients opting for the VMC alternating with rheumatology outpatient clinic visits as their preferred mode of follow‐up vis‐à‐vis standard care. There was a marginal increase in mean DAS28 and RAPID3 scores from 2.56 to 2.78 (P < 0.05) and 5.28 to 6.03 (P < 0.05), respectively. However, given that at 1‐year follow‐up more than half (72.0% and 63.4% based on DAS28 and RAPID3) of the patients’ disease activity had improved or remained stable, and was in remission or low activity (73.1% and 53.2% based on DAS28 and RAPID3), the VMC seemed to maintain a stable RA disease activity for the majority of patients. Conclusions The VMC is an effective and well‐accepted novel approach for the management of patients with stable RA.