Check arthritis quickly with four questions: designed for use in primary care.(Clinical Rounds)

ORLANDO, FLA. -- A four-item questionnaire for assessing the status of patients with arthritis has been developed for use by primary care physicians.

Although the Short Arthritis Assessment Scale (SAS) is intended primarily for use in patients with osteoarthritis, patients with other rheumatoid arthritis and fibromyalgia were included in the development database because a primary care tool must be able to work across all forms of arthritis. Dr. Frederick Wolfe said while presenting a poster at the annual meeting of the American College of Rheumatology.

The SAS was derived using a database of 3,259 patients with osteoarthritis, 12,395 patients with rheumatoid …