Overview
Principal Investigator
Health outcomes represent all physical and social consequences of disease. These include symptoms, functioning, costs, complications of treatment, and mortality.
The overall goals of our research effort are to:
- Understand the factors that influence health outcomes of patients with systemic lupus erythematosus, ankylosing spondylitis, and rheumatoid arthritis.
- Develop new tools and techniques to measure outcomes in these diseases.
- Assess rheumatic disease in an underserved minority community.
- Compare outcomes among patients having orthopedic surgery.
Patient-related factors, such as demographic characteristics, genetic background, and treatment, influence health outcomes. Certain provider-related factors, including access to care, also influence health outcomes. We are studying genetic, clinical, and treatment influences on functional and structural outcomes in ankylosing spondylitis, and provider influences on outcomes in patients with lupus nephritis and hospitalized patients with systemic lupus erythematosus. Among measures of health outcomes, we are testing criteria for clinically important changes in symptoms in patients with rheumatoid arthritis, and are developing methods to quantify the progression of spinal fusion in patients with ankylosing spondylitis. We are examining associations between chronic bisphosphonate use and bone structure and risk of hip fracture.
Staff
Scientific Publications
Ward MM, Deodhar A, Akl EA, Lui A, Ermann J, Gensler LS, Smith J, Borenstein D, Hiratzka J, Weiss PF, Inman RD, Majithia V, Haroon N, Maksymowych WP, Joyce J, Clark B, Colbert RA, Figgie M, Hallegua D, Prete P, Rosenbaum JT, Stebulis J, van den Bosch F, Yu DTY, Miller A, Reveille JD, Caplan L. American College of Rheumatology/Spondylitis Association of America/Spondyloarthritis Research and Treatment Network 2015 Recommendations for the Treatment of Ankylosing Spondylitis and Non-radiographic Axial Spondyloarthritis. Arthritis Rheumatol 2016; 68:282-98.
Wang R, Dasgupta A, Ward MM. Comparative efficacy of nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs in ankylosing spondylitis: a Bayesian network meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. Ann Rheum Dis 2016; 75:1152-60.
Wang R, Gabriel SE, Ward MM. Progression of non-radiographic axial spondyloarthritis to ankylosing spondylitis: a population-based cohort study. Arthritis Rheumatol 2016; 68:1415-21.
Tektonidou MG, Dasgupta A, Ward MM. Risks of end-stage renal disease in patients with lupus nephritis, 1971 – 2015. A systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis. Arthritis Rheumatol 2016; 68:1432-41.
Tan S, Dasgupta A, Yao J, Flynn JA, Yao L, Ward MM. Spatial distribution of syndesmophytes along the vertebral rim in ankylosing spondylitis: Preferential involvement of the posterolateral rim. Ann Rheum Dis 2016; 75:1951-7.
Ward MM, Guthrie LC, Alba MI. Standards of comparison and discordance in rheumatoid arthritis global assessments between patients and clinicians. Arthritis Care Res 2017; 69:1260-5.
Tektonidou M, Lewandowski L, Hu J, Dasgupta A, Ward MM. Survival in adults and children with systemic lupus erythematosus. A systematic review and Bayesian meta-analysis of studies from 1950 to 2016. Ann Rheum Dis 2017; 76:2009-16.
Wang R, Dasgupta A, Ward MM. Comparative efficacy of tumor necrosis factor-alpha inhibitors in ankylosing spondylitis: a systematic review and Bayesian network meta-analysis. J Rheumatol 2018; 45:481-90.
Wang R, Crowson C, Wright K, Ward MM. Clinical evolution in patients with new-onset inflammatory back pain: a population-based cohort study. Arthritis Rheumatol 2018; 70: 1049-1055.
Ward MM. Increased rates of both hip and knee arthroplasties in older patients with ankylosing spondylitis. J Rheumatol 2019; 46:31-37.
Tektonidou MG, Andreoli L, Limper M, Tincani A, Ward MM. Prevention and management of thrombotic and obstetric antiphospholipid syndrome: a systematic literature review informing the EULAR recommendations for the prevention and management of antiphospholipid syndrome in adults. RMD Open 2019; 5:e000924.
Tan S, Dasgupta A, Flynn JA, Ward MM. Aortic-vertebral interaction in ankylosing spondylitis: syndesmophytes development at the juxta-aortic vertebral rim. Ann Rheum Dis 2019; 78:922-8.