ArticleBMC rheumatology2019
Living life precariously with rheumatoid arthritis - a mega-ethnography of nine qualitative evidence syntheses.
Article in BMC rheumatology, 2019. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 25 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled 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.
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.
Who cites it
25 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 58 citations in OpenAlex.
- A transdisciplinary framework for chronic illness and chronic pain: a sequential qualitative meta-synthesis.Frontiers in public health · 2026Pooled it
- A Meta-Synthesis of the Experience of Chronic Temporomandibular Disorder Patients Within Health Care ServicesJournal of oral & facial pain and headache · 2023Pooled it
- Perceptions and experiences of individuals at-risk of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) knowing about their risk of developing RA and being offered preventive treatment: systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative studies.Annals of the rheumatic diseases · 2022Pooled it
- Renegotiating dimensions of the self: A systematic review and qualitative evidence synthesis of the lived experience of self-managing rheumatoid arthritis.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2020Pooled it
- (In)Visible illness: A photovoice study of the lived experience of self-managing rheumatoid arthritis.PloS one · 2021Trial
- Learning to live with RA as an unwelcome companion-patients' experiences after 1 to 2 years of DMARD treatment.EULAR rheumatology open · 2026Article
- Illness Experiences of Young Women With Rheumatoid Arthritis in South Korea.Health expectations : an international journal of public participation in health care and health policy · 2026Article
- Evaluating online health information on PIFP: A cross-platform analysis of content quality and readability.Scientific reports · 2025Article
- The Impact of Occupational Therapy on the Self-Management of Rheumatoid Arthritis: A Mixed Methods Systematic Review.ACR open rheumatology · 2024Review
- The use of Arts-Based Research in Chronic Pain: A Scoping Review.Canadian journal of pain = Revue canadienne de la douleur · 2024Article
- Understanding the lived experience of chronic pain: A systematic review and synthesis of qualitative evidence syntheses.British journal of pain · 2023Article
- Exploring the emotional impact of axial Spondyloarthritis: a systematic review and thematic synthesis of qualitative studies and a review of social media.BMC rheumatology · 2023Article
- A synthesis of qualitative research to understand the complexity behind treatment decision-making for osteoarthritis.Osteoarthritis and cartilage open · 2023Article
- Stakeholder views of services for children and adolescents with obesity: Mega-ethnography of qualitative syntheses.Obesity (Silver Spring, Md.) · 2022Review
- Mothers' experiences of wellbeing and coping while living with rheumatoid arthritis: a qualitative study.BMC women's health · 2022Article
- Physical activity in patients with rheumatoid arthritis - an agile lifelong behaviour: a qualitative meta-synthesis.RMD open · 2021Article
- A qualitative evidence synthesis using meta-ethnography to understand the experience of living with pelvic organ prolapse.International urogynecology journal · 2020Article
- Aqueous Extract of Kan-Lu-Hsiao-Tu-Tan Ameliorates Collagen-Induced Arthritis in Mice by Inhibiting Oxidative Stress and Inflammatory Responses.Life (Basel, Switzerland) · 2020Article
- Insights on mental health when living with rheumatoid arthritis: a descriptive qualitative study of threads on the Reddit website.BMC rheumatology · 2020Article
- Patient's experience of psoriatic arthritis: a conceptual model based on qualitative interviews.RMD open · 2020Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundRheumatoid arthritis is an autoimmune disease that causes joint inflammation. It affects around 400,000 people in the UK and 1 million adults in the USA. Given the appropriate treatment, many can have relatively few symptoms. It is therefore important to understand what it is like to live with rheumatoid arthritis and gain insight into peoples' decisions about utilising healthcare. The aims of this study were: (1) to bring together qualitative evidence syntheses that explore patients' experience of living with rheumatoid arthritis and (2) develop a conceptual understanding of what it is like to live with rheumatoid arthritis.
methodsWe used the methods of mega-ethnography. The innovation of mega-ethnography is to use conceptual findings from qualitative evidence syntheses as primary data. We searched four bibliographic databases from inception until September 2018 to identify qualitative evidence syntheses that explored patients' experience of rheumatoid arthritis.
resultsWe identified 373 qualitative evidence syntheses, removed 179 duplicates and screened 194 full text studies. We identified 42 qualitative evidence syntheses that explored the experience of pain or arthritis and 9 of these explored the experience of rheumatoid arthritis. We abstracted ideas into 10 conceptual categories: (1) rheumatoid arthritis is in control of my body (2) rheumatoid arthritis alters reciprocity; (3) rheumatoid arthritis is an emotional challenge; (4) rheumatoid arthritis disrupts my present and future self; (5) the challenge of balancing personal and work life; (6) I am trying to make sense of what is happening; (7) rheumatoid arthritis is variable and unpredictable; (8) rheumatoid arthritis is invisible; (9) I need a positive experience of healthcare, and (10) I need to reframe the situation. We developed a conceptual model underpinned by
conclusionsThis is the second
Indexed as
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
Registered trials
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.