The Tophus Impact Questionnaire (TIQ-20): responsiveness to change during urate-lowering therapy

Abstract Objectives In 2015, the 20-item Tophus Impact Questionnaire (TIQ-20) was developed as a tophus-specific patient-reported outcome measure. The aim of this study was to determine whether TIQ-20 scores change during urate-lowering therapy. Methods We analysed data from a 2-year clinical trial of allopurinol dose escalation using a treat-to-target serum urate approach. For participants with tophaceous gout, the longest diameter of up to three index tophi was measured, using Vernier calipers, and the TIQ-20 was recorded at study visits. Participants at the one site were invited to participate in a dual-energy CT (DECT) substudy. Participants were included in this analysis if they had tophaceous gout and TIQ-20 scores available at baseline, Year 1 and Year 2 (n = 58, 39 with DECT data). Data were analysed using a mixed-model approach to repeated measures. Results Improvements were observed in all tophus measures over the 2-year period. The mean (s.d.) TIQ-20 scores reduced over 2 years from 3.59 (1.77) to 2.46 (1.73), P