PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Serena Halls
AU  - Premarani Sinnathurai
AU  - Sarah Hewlett
AU  - Sarah L. Mackie
AU  - Lyn March
AU  - Susan J. Bartlett
AU  - Clifton O. Bingham III
AU  - Rieke Alten
AU  - Ina Campbell
AU  - Catherine L. Hill
AU  - Robert J. Holt
AU  - Rod Hughes
AU  - John R. Kirwan
AU  - Amye L. Leong
AU  - Ying Ying Leung
AU  - Anne Lyddiatt
AU  - Lorna Neill
AU  - Ana-Maria Orbai
TI  - Stiffness Is the Cardinal Symptom of Inflammatory Musculoskeletal Diseases, Yet Still Variably Measured: Report from the OMERACT 2016 Stiffness Special Interest Group
AID  - 10.3899/jrheum.161073
DP  - 2017 Dec 01
TA  - The Journal of Rheumatology
PG  - 1904--1910
VI  - 44
IP  - 12
4099  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/44/12/1904.short
4100  - http://www.jrheum.org/content/44/12/1904.full
SO  - J Rheumatol2017 Dec 01; 44
AB  - Objective. The objectives of the Outcome Measures in Rheumatology (OMERACT) Stiffness special interest group (SIG) are to characterize stiffness as an outcome in rheumatic disease and to identify and validate a stiffness patient-reported outcome (PRO) in rheumatology.Methods. At OMERACT 2016, international groups presented and discussed results of several concurrent research projects on stiffness: a literature review of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) stiffness PRO measures, a qualitative investigation into the RA and polymyalgia rheumatica patient perspective of stiffness, data-driven stiffness conceptual model development, development and testing of an RA stiffness PRO measure, and a quantitative work testing stiffness items in patients with RA and psoriatic arthritis.Results. The literature review identified 52 individual stiffness PRO measures assessing morning or early morning stiffness severity/intensity or duration. Items were heterogeneous, had little or inconsistent psychometric property evidence, and did not appear to have been developed according to the PRO development guidelines. A poor match between current stiffness PRO and the conceptual model identifying the RA patient experience of stiffness was identified, highlighting a major flaw in PRO selection according to the OMERACT filter 2.0.Conclusion. Discussions within the Stiffness SIG highlighted the importance of further research on stiffness and defined a research agenda.