Health areas, domains and instruments reported in the 35 selected articles.
| Core Area | Domain | No. of Studies | Instrument | No. of Studies Using the Instrument |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pathophysiological | Laboratory markers | 30 | ESR | 29 |
| CRP | 23 | |||
| IL-6, fibrinogen | 12 | |||
| Ultrasonography | 4 | Girdles US evaluation | 4 | |
| Pain | 17 | VAS 0–10 cm | 11 | |
| VAS 0–100 mm | 2 | |||
| VAS 0–32 | 1 | |||
| Grade 0–3 | 3 | |||
| Morning stiffness | 26 | Duration (min) | 11 | |
| Grade | 4 | |||
| Severity (VAS 0–10) | 1 | |||
| As a parameter of compositum measure or definition | 15 | |||
| Life impact | PGA | 9 | VAS 0–10 | 7 |
| 5 point–scale | 2 | |||
| PhGA | 14 | VAS 0–10 | 12 | |
| 5 point scale | 2 | |||
| PATSAT | 1 | Range 1–5 | 1 | |
| Function | 5 | HAQ | 5 | |
| Quality of life | 2 | MOS–SF36 | 1 | |
| VAS 0–100 | 1 | |||
| Death | Mortality | 1 | SMR | 1 |
| Resource | — | 0 | — | — |
| Composite measures | Disease activity | 8 | PMR-AS | 8 |
| Remission | 6 | Own definition | 6 | |
| Recurrence/Relapse | 8 | Own definition | 8 | |
| Contextual factors; adverse events | Side effects | 14 | General | 12 |
| Bone mineral content | 2 | |||
| Vertebral fracture | 2 | |||
| Glucocorticoid therapy | 6 | Minimal dose | 2 | |
| Cumulative dose | 3 | |||
| Discontinuation | 4 | |||
| Vascular disease | 3 | AMI, HF, CVA, PVD | 3 |
AMI: acute myocardial infarction; PGA: patient global assessment; PhGA: physician global assessment; PATSAT: patient’s satisfaction with disease status; CVA: cerebrovascular accident; HAQ: Health Assessment Questionnaire; HF: heart failure; PMR-AS: Polymyalgia Rheumatica Activity Score; PVD: peripheral vascular disease; SMR: standardized mortality rate; SF-36: Medical Outcome Study Short Form 36; VAS: visual analog scale; IL-6: interleukin 6.