TY - JOUR T1 - Deciding on progression of joint damage in paired films of individual patients: smallest detectable difference or change JF - Annals of the Rheumatic Diseases JO - Ann Rheum Dis SP - 179 LP - 182 DO - 10.1136/ard.2003.018457 VL - 64 IS - 2 AU - K Bruynesteyn AU - M Boers AU - P Kostense AU - S van der Linden AU - D van der Heijde Y1 - 2005/02/01 UR - http://ard.bmj.com/content/64/2/179.abstract N2 - Progression of radiological joint damage is usually based on the simultaneous assessment of a series of films from an individual patient (“paired”, with or without known sequence). In this setting the degree of progression that can be reliably detected above the measurement error is best determined by the smallest detectable change, and overestimated by the traditionally calculated smallest detectable difference. This knowledge is important for calculation of the proportion of patients showing radiographic progression in clinical trials. ER -