INSTRUMENTOS DE AVALIAÇÃO FUNCIONAL DA MÃO EM PACIENTES COM ARTRITE REUMATÓIDE Hand functional assessment in patients with rheumatoid arthritis

INTRODUCTION: Hands are required in various daily life activities. More then 90% of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients have their hands involved. In this context, the early functional assessment is important to provide data which support a therapeutic decision and evaluate the effect of a performed treatment. OBJECTIVES: The aims of this study were to identify and describe instruments of hand functional assessment most used in patients with RA. METHODOLOGY: We did a literature search, in English and Portuguese, using the following databases Lilacs, Medline, Pubmed and Cochrane, published from 1990 to 2007. RESULTS: 33 studies which described and used instruments of hand functional assessment were found. CONCLUSION: Although several instruments have been proposed, we did not find in the literature searched, any gold standard method on hand’s functional assessment in patients with RA.