Osteoarthritis (OA) is the most prevalent chronic joint disease, characterized by joint structural deterioration, pain and loss of function among the elders. It is also associated with several extra-articular symptoms (fatigue, sleep disorders, anxiety and depression) and a reduction of life quality. Studies have revealed that patients with OA benefitted from enhanced management via telemedicine. Guangdong Online Hospital (GOH) is the first officially recognized web-based hospital that provides telemedicine service in China. However, the effective implementation of GOH telemedicine (GOHT) to enhance management for patients with OA remains unknown. An assessor-blinded, parallel randomized controlled trial will be performed to study the feasibility and effectiveness of GOHT in the enhanced management of OA. Forty participants with knee OA will be recruited for a 6-month study. Patients meeting the inclusion criteria will be randomly allocated to receive conventional therapy (CT) or conventional therapy plus a brief GOH-based intervention (CT-GOHT). The primary outcome is the feasibility of a full-scale randomized controlled trial. The secondary outcomes include the self-reported total score of the Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), the Multidimensional Fatigue Inventory (MFI), the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI) and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Assessments will be performed at baseline, 2 weeks, 3 months and 6 months later after the initiation of the study. This trial is intended to test the application of GOHT in the chronic management in knee OA. The hypothesis is that OA patients may receive disease management via this network platform conveniently and effectively, especially those in the remote areas of our country. GOHT telemedicine would be an attractive alternative to traditional methods for disease management in knee OA. The results could provide preliminary experiences and guidance for an upcoming full-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) in disease management via telemedicine. ChiCTR: ChiCTR1800014465 . Registered on 16 January 2018.

Objective. This study is aimed at investigating the diagnostic value of synovial fluid cell counts in gout patients. Methods. A total of 185 gout, 64 rheumatoid arthritis (RA), 26 axial spondyloarthritis (axSpA), and 24 osteoarthritis (OA) patients were included in the study. According to serum uric acid (sUA) levels on attack, gout patients were divided into normal sUA gout patients and high sUA gout patients. The laboratory data were recorded. ROC curves were generated to evaluate the diagnostic value of the variables for gout patients and normal sUA gout patients compared with RA, axSpA, and OA patients. Results. The synovial fluid white blood cell (WBC), peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC), monocyte, polymorphonuclear (PMN), and neutrophil counts in gout patients were higher than those in OA patients ( ). The synovial fluid PBMC and lymphocyte counts in gout patients were lower than those in RA and axSpA patients ( ). ROC curve results showed that the AUC values of lymphocytes and sUA for gout patients were 0.728 and 0.881, respectively, which were higher than those of other variables. The optimal cutoff value of lymphocytes for gout was 1.362, with a Youden index of 0.439, a sensitivity of 83.3%, and a specificity of 60.6%. The AUC values of lymphocytes, sUA, and CRP for normal sUA gout patients were 0.694, 0.643, and 0.700, respectively, which were higher than those of other variables. The optimal cutoff value of lymphocytes for normal sUA gout patients was 1.362, with a Youden index of 0.422, a sensitivity of 81.6%, and a specificity of 60.6%. Conclusions. The synovial fluid cell counts of gout patients were different from those of RA, axSpA, and OA patients. Synovial fluid lymphocytes had a higher diagnostic value for gout.