FRI0033 Despite Early Improvement, Patients with Rheumatoid Arthritis Still Have Impaired Grip Force 5 Years After Diagnosis

BackgroundIn studies of rheumatoid arthritis (RA), patient reported outcomes or surrogate variables, such as radiographic joint damage, are often used as long term endpoints. Assessment of objective measures of function, such as standardized grip force evaluation, may be an important addition to longitudinal RA studies.ObjectivesTo investigate grip force in patients with early RA, compare this to age- and sex specific reference values, and assess changes over time.MethodsAn inception cohort of patients with early RA (symptom duration