The Relapsing Polychondritis Disease Activity Index: Development of a disease activity score for relapsing polychondritis.

2012

Abstract Objective The rarity of relapsing polychondritis (RP) has hindered the development of standardized tools for clinical assessment. Here, we describe the development of a preliminary score for disease assessing activity in RP, the Relapsing Polychondritis Disease Activity Index (RPDAI). Methods Twenty-seven RP experts participated in an international collaboration. Selection and definition of items for disease activity were established by consensus during a 4-round internet-based Delphi survey. Twenty-six experts assessed the Physician's Global Assessment (PGA) of disease activity on 43 test cases on a 0–100 scale, yielding a total of 1118 PGA ratings. The weight of each item was est…