Evidence map›Paper›PMID 23864139›Full record

Trial reportRheumatology international2013

Long-term benefits of radon spa therapy in rheumatic diseases: results of the randomised, multi-centre IMuRa trial.

Franke Annegret, Franke Thomas

Abstract readMulticenter StudyRandomized Controlled Trial
PubMed Publisher
In one paragraph

Trial report in Rheumatology international, 2013. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 44 papers, 7 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
44citing papers in PubMed, 7 pooled it
9.7field-weighted citation impact, top 2% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

44 citing papers in PubMed, 7 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 92 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Pooled it
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  6. Balneotherapy in rheumatoid arthritis-a systematic review.International journal of biometeorology · 2016
    Pooled it
  7. Balneotherapy (or spa therapy) for rheumatoid arthritis.The Cochrane database of systematic reviews · 2015
    Pooled it
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4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

2 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Franke AnnegretCentre of Biomedical Statistics, Untere Reuth 20, 08645, Bad Elster, Germany, info@medizinische-statistik.de.
Franke Thomas
Westsächsische Hochschule Zwickau · DE

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In chronic rheumatic diseases, recent treatment regimens comprise multimodal concepts including pharmacologic, physical/exercise, occupational and psychological therapies. Rehabilitation programmes are used for long-term management of disease. Spa therapy is often integrated in various middle and south European and Asian countries. Here, we investigated radon spa therapy as applied in health resorts compared to a control intervention in rheumatic out-patients. Randomised, blinded trial enroling 681 patients [mean age 58.3 (standard deviation 11.1); female 59.7%] in 7 health resorts in Germany and Austria with chronic back pain (n 1 = 437), osteoarthritis (OA) (n 2 = 230), rheumatoid arthritis (n 3 = 98), and/or ankylosing spondylitis (n 4 = 39); multiple nominations in 146 cases). Outcomes were pain (primary), quality of life, functional capacity, and medication measured before start, after end of treatment, and 3 times thereafter in 3 monthly intervals. Adverse events were documented. To analyse between-group differences, repeated-measures analysis of covariance was performed in metric endpoints and Fisher's exact test in rates. Two-sided significance level of 5% was chosen. Until end of follow-up, superiority of radon therapy was found regarding pain relief (p = 0.032) and analgesic drug consumption (p = 0.007), but not regarding quality of life. Functional capacity was assessed specific to the underlying indication. Significant benefits were found in radon-treated OA patients until 6-month follow-up (p = 0.05), but not until end of study (p = 0.096). Neither the back pain sub-population nor the two smaller patient populations with inflammatory indications benefited significantly in functional capacity. Results suggest beneficial analgesic effects of radon spa therapy in rheumatic diseases until 9 months post-intervention.

Indexed as

Back PainBalneologyFemaleHumansMaleMiddle AgedPain ManagementQuality of LifeRadonRheumatic DiseasesTreatment OutcomeRadon

Identifiers

PMID23864139
OpenAlexW2090608188

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.