Use of the Norwich Questionnaire in Possible Axial SpA Referrals
Research type
Research Study
Full title
A study to validate the use of a patient-completed questionnaire (the ‘Norwich Questionnaire’) in patients referred to a rheumatology department with possible axial spondyloarthritis
IRAS ID
148881
Contact name
Mark Sykes
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Norfolk & Norwich University Hospital
Research summary
Patients who have been referred to the rheumatology department with a suspected diagnosis of axial spondyloarthritis (axial SpA - an inflammatory condition of the spine) will be invited to complete a questionnaire about their symptoms. The questionnaire will be independent to their clinic appointment and have no bearing on the outcome of the consultation, but the responses from the questionnaire will be compared to the clinical diagnosis and see if it can be used to accurately predict a diagnosis of axial SpA.
The questionnaire uses routine questions which should be asked in a standard clinic consultation. It was developed within this centre (the 'Norwich questionnaire') and has been published in an international journal. It was validated using patients with an established diagnosis of axial SpA and compared against patients with mechanical causes of back pain. A model was produced (the 'Norwich model') which showed that having any 3 out of 6 specific factors made a diagnosis of axial SpA highly likely. However it has yet to be trialled in new referrals with a suspected diagnosis of axial SpA and this study is looking to see if it can be used in this setting.
REC name
North of Scotland Research Ethics Committee 1
REC reference
14/NS/1003
Date of REC Opinion
2 Jun 2014
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion