The UCSF Rheumatoid Arthritis Panel is now ten year effort to trace the course, treatment, and outcomes of rheumatoid arthritis. 1,025 persons with RA from a random sample of Northern California rheumatologists have been followed through annual interviews, periodic up-dates on severity from their physicians, home examinations, and information from health care providers, insurers, and vital records. In addition, 194 persons matched to the persons with RA on age sex, and area of residence have been followed since 1989 as a control group. In the proposed period of funding, the number of persons with RA in the study will be expanded by approximately 250. The 250 will have disease of recent onset. The number of controls will be expanded by approximately 75. This data base has served six MAC projects, one supplement, and one D&F study over the ten year period. In addition, it has served thirteen projects funded by non-MAC sources. In the proposed period of funding, the data base will serve Project EEHSR 3, """"""""Fatigue and Rheumatoid Arthritis"""""""", Project EEHSR 4, """"""""Stress, Coping, and Outcomes in Rheumatoid Arthritis""""""""; and Project EEHSR 5, """"""""Genetic Factors in Rheumatoid Arthritis Outcomes"""""""". The Core Unit is responsible for the design and validation of all data collection instruments in the RA Panel Study; the training and monitoring of all data collection staff; the administration of telephone and face to face interviews to person wit RA, controls, and health care providers; the collection of sera and collection and analysis of radiographs; the entry of data via computerized telephone interviewing software and other methods; cleaning the data from each year; the management of data from all years of the study; performing data analysis; and statistical consulting. The foregoing activities are housed in a Core because several MAC projects and several non-MAC projects use RA Panel data, and because many of the functions of the Core are indivisible. These include: collective use of a fixed portion of all surveys; skills to design instruments; staff skills and effort to collect and process data; and software and hardware to collect and analyze RA Panel study data.
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