Trial reportDeutsches Arzteblatt international2022
The Structured Delegation of Medical Care Services for Patients With Inflammatory Rheumatic Diseases.
Trial report in Deutsches Arzteblatt international, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.
What it found
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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
10 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- [Patient satisfaction in patients with rheumatoid arthritis : Effects of delegation to rheumatological specialist assistants].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2026Trial
- [Influence of the treatment setting on the treatment of patients with rheumatoid arthritis or psoriatic arthritis within the delegation to rheumatological specialist assistants - A post hoc analysis of the StärkeR study].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2025Trial
- [Delegation of medical duties to qualified rheumatology assistants : Effect on depression and anxiety in patients with rheumatoid arthritis].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2024Trial
- [Professional situation of rheumatological specialist assistants (RFA, DGRh-BDRh) after training : Results of a nationwide survey in 2024].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2026Article
- [Consequences of late access to specialist care-effect on medication costs in rheumatoid arthritis].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2026Article
- [Rheumatological care in Germany : Memorandum of the German Society for Rheumatology and Clinical Immunology 2024].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2024Article
- [Positive experiences of specialist assistants and physicians with respect to the delegation research project StaerkeR : Evaluation of the training and experiences within the framework of this project].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2024Article
- The Effect of an Interdisciplinary Dermatological-Rheumatological Consultation on the Outcome of Patients with Psoriasis with Musculoskeletal Pain: A Prospective, Single-Center Cohort Study.Advances in therapy · 2023Article
- Student-led clinics and ePROs to accelerate diagnosis and treatment of patients with axial spondyloarthritis: results from a prospective pilot study.Rheumatology international · 2023Article
- [Position paper of the German Society of Rheumatology e.V. (DGRh) regarding the situation of advanced training in the discipline of rheumatology in Germany].Zeitschrift fur Rheumatologie · 2023Review
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
24 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundIn some areas of Germany, there is a shortage of specialist physicians for patients with inflammatory rheumatic diseases. Delegating certain medical care services to qualified, specialized rheumatological assistants (SRAs) might be an effective way to supplement the available capacity for specialized medical care.
methodsPatients under stable treatment for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) or psoriatic arthritis (PsA) were included in this trial, which was designed to demonstrate, in a first step, the non-inferiority of a form of care involving delegation of physicians' tasks to SRAs (team-based care), in comparison to standard care, with respect to changes in disease activity at one year. "Non-inferiority," in this context, means either superiority or else an irrelevant extent of inferiority. In a second step, in case non-inferiority could be shown, the superiority of team-based care with respect to changes in patients' health-related quality of life would be tested as well. Disease activity was measured with the Disease Activity Score 28, and health-related quality of life with the EQ-5D-5L. This was a randomized, multicenter, rater-blinded trial with two treatment arms (team-based care and standard care). The statistical analysis was performed with mixed linear models (DRKS00015526).
resultsFrom September 2018 to June 2019, 601 patients from 14 rheumatological practices and 3 outpatient rheumatological clinics in the German states of North Rhine-Westphalia and Lower Saxony were randomized to either team-based or standard care. Team-based care was found to be non-inferior to standard care with respect to changes in disease activity (adjusted difference = -0.19; 95% confidence interval [-0.36; -0.02]; p <0.001 for non-inferiority). Superiority with respect to health-related quality of life was not demonstrated (adjusted difference = 0.02 [-0.02; 0.05], p = 0.285).
conclusionTeam-based care, with greater integration of SRAs, is just as good as standard care in important respects. Trained SRAs can effectively support rheumatologists in the care of stable patients with RA or PsA.
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