Rheumatology Commons^™

Factors Associated With Participant Attrition In A Longitudinal, Survey-Based Rheumatic Disease Databank, Kathryn A. Grafel

Capstone Experience

Introduction: Participant attrition is a problem common to many longitudinal studies, and when it occurs nonrandomly, it can impact the study’s validity and generalizability. Identifying factors associated with attrition can help to detect bias and aid in developing targeted interventions to reduce attrition. Methods: Logistic regression and Cox proportional hazards regression models were constructed separately for patients with rheumatoid arthritis, systemic lupus erythematosus, and other rheumatic diseases who participated in the FORWARD study between 1998 and 2018. Results: Patient characteristics associated with attrition included male sex, younger age, non-White race, and less education, each of which was identified in multiple …

Viral Etiology Of Rheumatoid Arthritis, Fatima Kudaeva

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Viruses can trigger rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or inflammatory arthritis (IA). Our study provides insight into etiology of RA/IA. We analyzed the evidence relating to the risk of RA after viral infections; estimated the distribution of IA onsets over time; quantified the effect of influenza on the risk of IA.

Results of systematic review and meta-analysis showed that the risk of RA/IA is increased after parvovirus B19 and chikungunya virus. There seems to be a risk of RA after chronic hepatitis C (HCV), but whether it is a true RA or HCV-associated arthritis is not clear.

We estimated the distribution of …