Objective: To determine the comparability of a text to a mannequin format for the assessment of joint counts (JC) among patients with rheumatoid arthritis (RA) participating in a randomized clinical trial (RCT).
Methods: A subgroup of patients participating in the MIRA (Minocycline in RA) RCT completed self-administered JC and joint scores (JS), which were compared to those of a trained assessor.
Results: JC and JS data were consistently higher for the patient than for the assessor. Higher correlations were obtained for JC than for JS.
Conclusion: Our data suggest JC can be used in the context of clinical trials or in the clinical setting, but are not interchangeable with trained assessor JC.