الفهرس | Only 14 pages are availabe for public view |
Abstract Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients with active disease usually develop progressive deleterious clinical and radiological damage that may influence hand function. This thesis aimed to test the relations between hand function and clinical and radiological characteristics of RA. In this study 60 RA patients were subjected to full history taking, clinical examination, radiological evaluation, disease activity assessment by DAS28, objective hands function assessment by testing for power, pinch, and pulp to pulp grips, gross manual dexterity testing by box and block test (BBT), and manual ability assessment by the ABILHAND questionnaire. Radiological damage was linearly correlated to the DAS28 score and disease. The hand function as evaluated by the ABILHAND questionnaire was inversely correlated to the DAS 28, disease duration, and radiological damage. Measures of hands{u2019} strength for power, key pinch, and pulp-to-pulp grips tests of both hands were all found to be significantly correlated. BBT for each hand correlated to power and key pinch grips strength but not to the pulp-to-pulp grip. ABILHAND questionnaire scores could be predicted DAS28 scores and morning stiffness duration while BBT could be predicted by power and pulp-to-pulp grips strengths. Age, disease duration, radiographic findings could not predict ABILHAND and BBT scores |