ArticleBMC musculoskeletal disorders2022
A multicentre validation study of a smartphone application to screen hand arthritis.
Article in BMC musculoskeletal disorders, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 8 papers, 1 of them a synthesis 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
8 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it, 18 citations in OpenAlex.
- Smartphone-Based Hand Function Assessment: Systematic Review.Journal of medical Internet research · 2024Pooled it
- Observer: creation of a novel multimodal dataset for outpatient care research.Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association : JAMIA · 2026Article
- Artificial Intelligence in Outpatient Primary Care: A Scoping Review on Applications, Challenges, and Future Directions.Journal of general internal medicine · 2026Article
- Observer: Creation of a Novel Multimodal Dataset for Outpatient Care Research.medRxiv : the preprint server for health sciences · 2025Article
- Current application, possibilities, and challenges of artificial intelligence in the management of rheumatoid arthritis, axial spondyloarthritis, and psoriatic arthritis.Therapeutic advances in musculoskeletal disease · 2025Review
- A scoping review of triage approaches for the referral of patients with suspected inflammatory arthritis, from primary to rheumatology care.Rheumatology international · 2024Article
- Management of Rheumatoid Arthritis in Primary Care: A Scoping Review.International journal of environmental research and public health · 2024Article
- Digital health in musculoskeletal care: where are we heading?BMC musculoskeletal disorders · 2023Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
10 authors at 1 institution in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
backgroundArthritis is a common condition, and the prompt and accurate assessment of hand arthritis in primary care is an area of unmet clinical need. We have previously developed and tested a screening tool combining machine-learning algorithms, to help primary care physicians assess patients presenting with arthritis affecting the hands. The aim of this study was to assess the validity of the screening tool among a number of different Rheumatologists.
methodsTwo hundred and forty-eight consecutive new patients presenting to 7 private Rheumatology practices across Australia were enrolled. Using a smartphone application, each patient had photographs taken of their hands, completed a brief 9-part questionnaire, and had a single examination result (wrist irritability) recorded. The Rheumatologist diagnosis was entered following a 45-minute consultation. Multiple machine learning models were applied to both the photographic and survey/examination results, to generate a screening outcome for the primary diagnoses of osteoarthritis, rheumatoid and psoriatic arthritis.
resultsThe combined algorithms in the application performed well in identifying and discriminating between different forms of hand arthritis. The algorithms were able to predict rheumatoid arthritis with accuracy, precision, recall and specificity of 85.1, 80.0, 88.1 and 82.7% respectively. The corresponding results for psoriatic arthritis were 95.2, 76.9, 90.9 and 95.8%, and for osteoarthritis were 77.4, 78.3, 80.6 and 73.7%. The results were maintained when each contributor was excluded from the analysis. The median time to capture all data across the group was 2 minutes and 59 seconds.
conclusionsThis multicentre study confirms the results of the pilot study, and indicates that the performance of the screening tool is maintained across a group of different Rheumatologists. The smartphone application can provide a screening result from a combination of machine-learning algorithms applied to hand images and patient symptom responses. This could be used to assist primary care physicians in the assessment of patients presenting with hand arthritis, and has the potential to improve the clinical assessment and management of such patients.
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.